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0bt  Jfeet  of  Homance 


THE   REAL  AGITATOR  IS   THE   CONSERVATIVE. 

TUMULTS    ARE    CAUSED    BY    THE    FIXED    ROCKS — THE   CONSERVATIVES 
IN    THE    STREAM    OF    PROGRESS. 


matxce 

txrittx 

the 


s  feet  0f 


CHARLES  L.  WEBSTER  AND  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS    NEW   YORK    MDCCCXCII 


to* 


COPYRIGHT,  1892, 
CHAS.   L.  WEBSTER  &  CO. 

(All  rights  reserved.) 


JENKINS  &  McCovvAN,  PRINTERS, 
NEW  YORK. 


Jbretuorfr, 


THE  purest  saint  who  ever  lived  has  had 
thoughts  as  evil,  perhaps,  as  any  that  ever 
entered  the  mind  of  the  most  abandoned; 
but  these  thoughts,  like  vultures  that  fly 
through  the  summer  sky,  leave  no  trace  be 
hind  in  the  crystal  mental  atmosphere  of  the 
saint. 

We  are  responsible  only  for  such  thoughts 
as  we,  by  our  own  choice,  detain  and  harbor 
in  our  minds.  Our  responsibility  begins 
when  we  interrupt  the  flight  of  the  vulture, 
and  tempt  it  to  alight  by  the  offer  of  food. 
•The  evil  becomes  our  own  when  the  vulture 
becomes  domesticated. 

Many  birds-of-paradise,  glittering  as  with 
the  splendor  caught  from  the  inmost  heaven, 
fly  through  the  clouded  minds  of  the  most 


Xll  FOREWORD. 

depraved;  but  if  there  is  no  home  nor  food 
offered  them,  they  also  disappear  and  leave 
no  trace  of  what  has  passed  through  the 
mind.  The  good  comes  only  with  the  do 
mestication  of  the  birds-of-paradise. 

Through  the  mental  heavens  of  the  author, 
two  birds,  "  Moonblight "  and  "Six  Feet  of 
Romance,"  have  flown,  and  he  is  responsi 
ble  for  them  only  so  far  as  he  has  sheltered 
and  fed  them.  They  came  from  a  land  be 
yond  his  ken,  and  would,  like  birds  of  pas 
sage,  have  flowrn  on,  and  left  nothing  to  tell 
of  their  existence  had  not  their  strange 
notes  attracted  his  attention  and  interest. 
One  twittered  a  light  song,  and  the  cry  of 
the  other  was  the  warning  scream  of  a 
mother  bird.  Although  neither  may  possess 
the  brilliant  plumage  of  the  bird-of-paradise, 
yet  the  author  trusts  and  believes  that  neither 
may  be  classed  with  the  vulture. 

Who  can  deny  that  the  old-fashioned 
superstition  that  certain  men  sell  themselves 
to  the  devil  is  a  literal  truth  of  to-day?  His 
Satanic  Majesty  uses  them  as  overseers  on  his 


FOREWORD.  Xlll 

earthly  plantations;  and  for  that  proud  office, 
and  the  emoluments  that  go  with  it,  these 
men  have  bartered  their  souls. 

If  a  word  or  sentence  in  this  book  should 
cause  a  single  slave-driver  to  transmute  the 
baser  earthly  coin  into  the  fine  gold  of  love 
and  the  silver  of  truth,  the  author  will 
know  he  has  not  been  deceived  in  the  nature 
of  the  birds  that  have  visited  him. 

If  you  place  a  valuable  picture  with  its 
face  against  the  wall,  and  leave  it  in  dark 
ness,  the  beautiful  tints  will  fade,  the  white 
turn  yellow,  the  flesh-tints  green,  and  the 
whole  become  dim,  indistinct,  and  ugly  in 
color;  but  if  this  same  picture  be  placed  in 
God's  clear  sunshine,  the  colors  will  return 
to  all  their  original  brightness,  enriched  and 
deepened  by  their  temporary  exile  in  the 
darkness. 

There  is  a  wall  called  Vested  Rights, 
which  prevents  nature's  sun  from  shining  on 
our  fellow-men;  but,  thank  God!  good  work 
men  are  busy  at  its  foundation;  it  is  already 
undermined  and  must  fall.  Then,  and  then 


XIV  FOREWORD. 

only,  will  the  poor  tramp,  the  beggar,  and 
the  white  slave  begin  to  show  the  true  color 
of  their  manhood. 


Cist  of  3llu0tration0 


PAGE 

Frontispiece. 

Initial  Letter  (Chapter  I.) 17 

"  I  Could  not  Light  My  Pipe  "     ......          19 

To  Let 30 

"So  My  Chain's  Makin'  Me  a  Slave,  See?"        ...          34 

Seeing  Things  as  They  Really  Are 37 

Initial  Letter  (Chapter  II.) 42 

The  Witch         .         .         .         . 44 

"  I  Wish  I  Could  See  Things  as  They  Really  Are  "  .  .  47 
"The  Cursed  Pigskin-Covered  Book"  .  .  .  .  •  54 

Initial  Letter  (Chapter  III.) 59 

"  I  Had  Attended  a  Meeting  of  Mine  Owners"  .  .  .Co 
"  A  Red-Mouthed  Wolf  with  White  Fangs"  ...  66 
"  True  Expression  of  the  Inner  Mr.  White  "  .  .  .  -67 

Initial  Letter  (Chapter  IV.) 72 

A  Type  of  the  Modern  So-Called  Christian     .         .         .         -75 
Prejudice      ..........          81 

"  Now,  Mister,  What  Does  That  Mean?"       .         .         .         .83 

"  Now,  Mister,  What  Does  That  Mean?"  ....          85 

"  What  Does  This  Mean,  Mister,  Say?"          .         .         .         .87 

One  of  the  Customers  .......          90 

A  Forgotten  Well 92 

Initial  Letter  (Chapter  V.) 95 

"The  Moon  is  All  Right" 96 

Prof.  Follium         .........          97 

Clint  Butts,  My  Superintendent       ......    104 

The  Old  Continental 117 

"  The  Old  White-Faced  Moon  Saw  This  "        .         .         .         .120 

Initial  Letter  (Chapter  VI.) 128 

A  Sketch  From  Nature 130 

xv 


XVI  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PACE 

Its  Application      .........  131 

"  I  Am  a  Firm  Believer  in  Gnomes,"  etc.        .         .         .    134,  135 

Initial  Letter  (Chapter  VII.) 146 

Ah,  the  Hardship,  Privation,  and  Suffering  of  a  Strike  !          .  147 
The  Law  Locks  up  What  a  Loving  God  Has  Created  for  His 

Children          ........        148,  149 

•'  The  People  in  the  Cities  Read  of  These  Strikes,  and  Grum 
ble  at  the  Inconvenience  It  Causes  Them"      .         .         .151 

Modern  Civilization      ........  154 

The  Editor         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         ,         .         .156 

Two  Distracted  Mothers  Were  Sobbing,  etc.       .                  ,  159 

What  Abe  Lincoln  Did  Say 163 

"  Force  Begets  Force" 167 

Initial  Letter  (Chapter  VIII.) 174 

The  Old  Paths 182 

A  Red-Faced  Old  Club-Man 184 

New  Paths 189 

The  Woman's  War-Club    .         .                 .....  193 

The  End 197 


Initial  Letter  (Six  Feet  of  Romance) 201 

The  Great  Log  Fire 203 

An  Old-Fashioned  Foot-Stove  ......  204 

"  A  Hand  Reached  Out  of  the  Haze"  ....  206 

"  There  Were  Two  Feet  Side  by  Side  " 208 

A  Pair  of  Yellow-Topped  Boots 210 

I  Have  Always  Regarded  These  Boots  with  a  Feeling  Akin 

to  Awe 2I2 

Self-Conscious  Boots 214 

Two  Hands  Reached  Down  Simultaneously,  as  if  to  Take  the 

Stove 2l6 

"  Only  to  Immediately  Appear  " 218 

Tail-Piece  221 


MOONBLIGHT. 


ISMAL,  dismal,  dismal ! 
Rain   in    torrents,  rain    in 
drizzles,  rain  in  mist ! 
Big  rolling-  clouds  of  smoke 
and     mist,    low-hanging     gray 
clouds,  fast-driving,  ragged  aerial 
tramps  of  the  sky  ! 

Howls  of  angry  winds,  moans  of 
melancholy  winds,  sobs  and  sighs 
of  wreary  winds ! 

Such  was  the  history  of  the  day 
after  my  arrival  at  the  straggling, 
dirty  mining  town  in  Pennsylvania 
where  my  business  had  called  me. 
My    steam    yacht    was    at    Port 
Jefferson,  Long  Island,  out  of  com 
mission  for  the  winter.  I  had  parted 
with  my  jolly  comrades  only  two 
days  ago,  but  it  seemed  like  ages. 
The    American    House,    where    I 
was    domiciled,    is    a 
^P^^>     small  frame  building, 


1 8  MOONBLIGHT. 

the  counterpart  of  hundreds  of  others  of  the 
same  name  scattered  all  over  Uncle  Sam's 
broad  domain. 

I  had  drummed  upon  the  battered  piano 
in  the  second-floor  parlor  ;  I  had  lounged  in 
the  dreary  apartment  which  served  as  bar 
room  and  office  ;  I  had  examined  the  prints 
of  gorgeous  and  not  over-modest  females 
posing  in  lithographic  ink  as  advertisements 
for  sundry  cigarette  firms  ;  I  had  thrown  my 
self  upon  the  gaudy  bedquilt  that  covered 
the  couch  where  I  had  slept  the  night  before, 
but  the  cotton-seed  oil  in  which  my  eggs 
were  fried,  or  the  greenish-yellow  saleratus 
biscuit,  or  their  combination,  had  given  me 
heart-burn  and  indigestion. 

For  the  twentieth  time  I  took  my  pipe  from 
its  satin-lined  case.  Even  this  appeared  to 
share  the  general  depression  :  the  beautiful 
amber  mouthpiece  seemed  a  trifle  more 
cloudy,  the  richly  colored  brown  bowl,  in 
which  I  took  so  much  pride,  was  covered 
with  a  thin  mist  that  dulled  the  warm  tints. 

I  wiped  off  the  pipe,  filled  it,  and  after 
wasting  breath  and  endangering  my  soul  by 
meaningless  epithets  applied  to  the  country 
matches  that  would  not  ignite,  I  broke  a 
whole  section  of  them  off  the  block.  They 


MOONBLIGHT. 

stood  up  like  a  file  of  sol 
diers,  just  as  regular  and 
just  as  stupid.  One  brisk 
rub  across  my  trouser's 
leg,  a  smudge,  a  smell  of 
brimstone,  and  then  a 
flame.  I  could  not  light 
my  pipe:  it  would  not 
draw. 

I  threw  pipe  and  tobacco 
on  top  of  my  sole-leather 
trunk,  and  went  to  the  win 
dow.  It  was  covered  with 
mist.  With  my  hand  I 
wiped  clear  a  spot  large 
enough  to  look  through. 

A   dismal,   straggling 
street  met  my  view — a  dis 
couraged  -  looking 
street,  with  a  pre- 
ponderance    of 
mud  and  saloons. 
Trudging    along 
in  a  disheartened 
sort    of    manner 
came   a    file    of 
black-faced,  black- 
handed,  dirty,  wet 


I  COULD  NOT  LIGHT  MY  PIPE 
WOULD    NOT   DRAW." 


:  IT 


2O  MOONBLIGHT. 

men  and  boys,  each  with  a  clanking-  dinner- 
pail  Somehow  or  other  the  clanking  pails 
reminded  me  of  clanking  chains,  while  the 
coal-dust  on  their  faces  rendered  it  impossible 
to  tell  whether  the  real  color  of  the  skins  was 
bjack  or  white.  The  next  instant  a  picture 
that  I  had  seen  somewhere  of  a  gang  of  black 
slaves  rose  before  me.  I  turned  from  the 
window  in  despair,  and  my  eyes  fell  upon  a 
shelf  of  books. 

The  landlord  had  informed  me,  the  night 
before,  when  I  registered,  that  there  was  no 
room  vacant,  but  that  he  would  put  me  in  a 
room  usually  occupied  by  a  regular  boarder, 
who  was  at  present  temporarily  absent;  and 
this  was  the  room. 

«  In  the  corner  stood  a  fowling-piece  in  its 
leathern  case  ;  alongside  of  it  were  several 
fishing-rods  in  their  drab  cloth  covers.  These 
and  other  articles  of  a  like  nature,  hanging 
in  the  corner,  under  and  around  the  book 
shelves,  I  now  noticed  for  the  first  time,  and 
they  gave  me  the  only  thrill  of  pleasure  that 
I  had  experienced  since  my  arrival  the  night 
before. 

The  presence  of  the  rod  and  gun  brought 
on  an  independent  camp-life  feeling.  I  picked 
up  my  pipe,  and  with  a  broomstraw  removed 


MOONBLIGHT.  2 1 

the  obstruction  in  the  stem,  and  refilled  it 
with  aromatic  tobacco.  I  shook  th*e  ashes 
from  the  prim,  cylindrical  stove,  and  put  on 
more  coal ;  then,  selecting  a  glowing"  coal 
from  the  ashes,  by  skillful  juggling,  and  by 
dint  of  keeping  it  moving  from  one  hand  to 
the  other,  as  I  had  learned  in  camp  to  do,  I 
guided  it  successfully  to  my  pipe's  bowl,  and 
soon  had  a  beautiful  light  with  no  taint  of 
sulphur  matches.  Then,  throwing  a  wrap 
over  a  rocking-chair,  and  lighting  the  coal- 
oil  lamp,  I  fixed  myself  comfortably  before 
the  stove  with  a  book. 

Although  my  life  since  leaving  Ohio  had 
been  one  of  pleasure  and  idleness,  I  had  a 
strong  inherited  attachment  for  books,  and  I 
never  saw  a  strange  volume  without  experi 
encing  an  almost  irresistible  desire  to  know 
what  was  contained  between  its  covers. 
Many  social  engagements  have  I  broken  by 
becoming  absorbed  in  some  quaint  volume 
found  in  one  of  the  numerous  bookstands 
that  abound  on  Ann,  Nassau,  and  Fulton 
streets. 

Evidently  the  regular  boarder  was  a  man 
with  tastes  similar  to  mine  ;  for  although  the 
books  on  his  shelves  were  not  numerous, 
they  were  all  quaint  and  such  as  I  would 


22  MOONBLIGHT. 

select;  but  most  of  them  were  strangers 
to  me.  If  his  room  had  been  in  the  city, 
where  the  money-value  of  such  treasures 
is  known,  he  most  probably  would  have 
been  compelled  to  keep  them  under  lock  and 
key.  Here,  however,  their  safety  lay  in  the 
ignorance  of  the  people,  who  probably  would 
never  be  tempted  even  to  examine  such  an 
antiquated,  dilapidated-looking  collection. 

Howrever  that  might  be,  there  the  books 
were  in  plain  sight,  now  that  the  lamp  was 
lighted  and  my  attention  attracted  to  them, 
and  formed  a  sight  to  make  a  book-fancier's 
heart  beat  and  his  fingers  itch. 

In  selecting  the  volume  I  was  to  read,  I 
instinctively  chose  one  of  the  most  worn  and 
ancient  in  appearance.  The  fire  brightened, 
the  sound  of  dripping  rain  and  sobbing  wind 
was  lost  to  my  ear,  the  biscuit  and  cotton 
seed  oil  at  last  gave  up  their  struggle  with  a 
healthy  digestion,  my  pipe  never  tasted 
sweeter,  and  the  rude  jests  and  brutal  oaths 
of  the  bar-room  loungers  below  became  but 
a  subdued  murmur. 

There  came  a  sound  louder  than  the  moan 
ing  winds  ;  it  grew  in  intensity,  now  louder 
still,  now  deafening,  but  I  heeded  it  not.  It 
was  the  supper-gong.  Buried  deep  in  the 


MOONBLIGHT.  23 

interesting  work  of  spelling-  out  the  black- 
lettered  words  and  admiring  the  brilliantly 
illuminated  initials  of  the  parchment  leaves 
of  the  book,  the  indigestible  supper  had  no 
charms  for  me. 

"  Dreams  and  Moonblight "  is  the  title 
of  the  work.  The  book  was  evidently  writ 
ten  after  printing  was  invented  and  when 
black-letter  was  falling  into  disuse ;  yet  the 
monkish  author,  with  the  reverence  for  tradi 
tion  born  of  his  life  and  the  teachings  of  his 
church,  had  painfully  written  the  book  by 
hand,  letter  for  letter,  giving  the  same 
amount  of  thought  and  skill  to  the  artistic 
handling  of  his  pen  as  he  did  to  the  literary 
composition.  The  golden  illuminated  ini 
tials  were  exquisitely  done  and  of  the  medi 
aeval  Celtic  style  of  ornament. 

I  had  indeed  discovered  a  triumph  of  the 
book-making  art,  nor  did  its  contents  lack 
interest.  It  contained  quaint  old  bits  of 
philosophy  and  a  knowledge  of  nature  that 
must  have  placed  the  author  far  in  advance 
of  the  scholars  of  his  time.  His  reasoning 
was  marked  by  a  clear  and  concise  method, 
and,  in  spite  of  the  antique  manner  of  ex 
pression,  was  not  difficult  to  understand.  At 
least,  so  it  appeared  to  me.  As  I  turned 


MOONBLIGHT. 


over  the  stained  yellow  vellum  leaves,  a  more 
than  usually  curious,  ornate,  and  intricate 
initial '  met  my  eye  ;  it  evidently  denoted 
an  important  chapter.  I  began  to  read, 
and  as  I  read  the  black-letter  became  more 
familiar,  the  initials  were  unnoticed,  my 
interest  as  a  collector  was  absorbed  in  my 
interest  as  a  bookworm. 

After  a  long  apology  for  daring  to  think 
that  everything  in  nature  was  not  a  succes 
sion  of  miracles  of  the  prestidigitator's  sort, 
but  only  law-abiding  events,  the  old  monk 
began  his  essay  as  follows  : 


<£l\<&  3  0et  before  tiou  gooft 
reader  manji  goob  goWn 
truths  a0  3  tlftnk  it  gooft  anfo 
nece00arn   anlr  inn    bounftcn 
ftutne  to  aquatint  JIM  uritl). 

^Iccoriitnge  to  ttye  santuge 
of  Sainct  Augustine  :  a0  tljerc  10, 
ncntljn*  0l)all  bt,  ann  0'tnnc  anpunisljtb 
ciuu  00  01)  all  tljerc  not  be  ann  gooi 


gl)  goolt  rcabcr  3  write  in  plaimc 
tcrincs,  anb   not  00   pla^nclg   a0  trulji, 


MOONBLIGHT. 


concerning  fyt  laws  of  breams,  meaning  Ijoncstln  to 
all  men  anb  nrisl)  tljcm  as  mud)  goob  as  mjnie  oume 
f)arte. 

tllitl)  stout  aubacitg  anb  bolbe  roorbs  3  gtoe  mg 
tljougl)ts. 

till)  en  a  Ijcaltlju  l)olsome  man  l)as  l)abbe  great 
djccre  tuitl)  mud)  goobe  meatc  anb  breab  anb  net 
agannc  mud)  more  meat  anb  breab  anb  fell  to  l)is 
mammerings  anb  moudjcb  apace,  anb  aganne,  because 
of  l)ts  grcate  l)unger  or  l)oggtsl)ness,  l)as  taken  more 
cljcer,  it  be  not  unse  for  l)im  to  seek  l)is  couclje. 

JFor  u)Ijen  I)c  l)as  pluckcb  off  I)is  jerkin,  untrusscb 
l)tm  anb  remoneb  I)is  Ijoscn  anb  got  Ijtm  to  bcbbc,  Ijc 
uitll  oft  times  Ijane  untoruarb  anb  unlb  visions  anb 
bn  tl)e  mass  3  mist  not  but  Ijc  bo  sobanln  u^ake. 

^Iganne  tljere  be  ccrtnne  persons  ru!)o  bg  reason 
of  uieakncss  or  sickness  t)at)e  bloub  tl)at  goetl)  but 
softln  ujttl)  not  passing  Ijaste,  ivljcn  tl)cn  sleep  anb 
tl)csc  persons  are  likeunse  troublcb  will)  melenconlc 
fantasies  anb  penisl)  ougln  breams. 

Jf  for  ensamplc  3  bream  tl)at  our  most  I)oln  anb 
reuereneb  brother  ^Uucfclb  comes  to  me  in  gcrksomc 
attnrc  anb  tl)is  glnmmernnge  fantasie  untl)  grcte 
smorb  letcs  brnue  uiitl)  sobbcn  force  at  me  anli  3 
moue  not  for  lack  of  pomer  to  stepe  but  wake,  mitl) 
mud)  breab  anb  in  grcte  frtgljt.  3  crn  out  roll  oner 
anb  tl)e  fear  beparts  l)encc  anb  nanisljes  aumiie  luitl) 
tlje  trisions  it  conjurcb  up. 


26  MOONBLIGHT. 

The  author  then  proceeds  to  explain  that 
persons  suffering  from  "  moonblight "  are 
all  those  who  are  unable  to  distinguish 
their  dreams  from  the  realities  of  life.  He 
showed  how,  in  the  "  ensample "  given 
above,  if  the  author  had  not  known  after 
wakening,  that  his  dream  was  not  real,  he 
would,  at  first  sight  of  the  harmless  brother 
"  Awefeld,"  have  fled  in  great  terror,  or,  worse 
still,  have  attacked  the  inoffensive  subject  of 
his  nightmare  with  the  first  deadly  weapon 
he  could  lay  his  hands  on,  and  think  he  was 
only  fighting  to  save  his  own  life. 

I  had  read  thus  far,  and  was  thinking 
what  a  reasonable  theory  this  was,  when, 
before  my  mind's  eye  rose  that  cursed  pic 
ture  of  a  gang  of  black  slaves  with  clanking 
chains  that  I  had  seen  in  the  dirty  wet  street 
outside.  It  did  not  at  first  occur  to  me  that 
the  sight  of  black  slaves  in  a  Pennsylvania 
town  was  at  all  unusual,  and  I  was  only  an 
noyed  that  my  thoughts  should  revert  to 
such  unpleasant  subjects ;  but  when  I  real 
ized  the  improbability  and  absurdity  of  negro 
slaves  being  in  the  streets  of  any  town  in  the 
United  States,  twenty-five  years  after  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  had  signed  a  document  freeing 
them  all,  and  when  I  thought  of  what  the 


MOONB LIGHT.  2  7 

strange  book  said  of  the  mooncalf  that  con 
founded  his  dreams  with  realities,  I  was 
alarmed. 

"  God  'ield  the  moonling  ! "  I  exclaimed 
as  I  flung  the  beautiful  book  upon  the  floor 
and  hastily  leaped  from  my  chair. 

Like  a  mendicant  at  the  doorway  of  the 
mind,  Fear  ever  stands  begging  for  mental 
food  and  shelter.  If  alms  are  constantly  and 
emphatically  denied,  the  importunities  of 
the  mendicant  become  fainter  and  fainter 
until  they  are  inaudible  and  we  are  uncon 
scious  of  the  pauper's  presence.  But  food 
makes  Fear  a  lusty  beggar,  whose  strength 
and  impudence  are  in  direct  proportion  to 
the  amount  of  nourishment  he  receives;  and 
if  but  once  he  gains  an  entrance  to  the  house 
of  the  mind,  like  a  burly  tramp,  he  will  wreck 
the  edifice  and  evict  the  tenants  whose  hos 
pitality  he  has  accepted. 

It  has  not  been  my  custom  to  extend  any 
hospitality  to  Fear,  and  I  have  never  been 
considered  a  coward  ;  yet  the  horrible 
thought  that  my  reason  was  leaving  me  I 
had  never  before  faced,  and  the  bare  idea 
made  my  heart  stand  still ;  cold  chills  ran  in 
waves  down  my  spine,  and  the  hair  on  the 
nape  of  my  neck  rose  like  that  on  the  back 


2  8  MOO  NB  LIGH  7 '. 

of  a  frightened  dog".  I  felt  as  though  some 
horrible  thing,  vague  and  shadowy,  was  hov 
ering  over  me,  shutting  off  both  air  and  light. 
My  only  thought  was  of  escape — escape 
from  myself  !  With  a  stifled  cry  I  fled  down 
the  stairs  to  the  smoky  bar-room  below. 

The  room  was  filled  with  rough  men, 
drinking,  swearing,  and  telling  rude,  point 
less  stories.  No  one  noticed  my  agitation, 
nor  in  fact  did  my  sudden  appearance  attract 
attention,  which  was  a  relief  to  my  worried 
mind  and  made  it  easy  for  me  to  invite  the 
crowd  to  the  bar.  I  invited  all  of  them,  and 
they  came  up,  but  looked  at  me  askance. 
With  assumed  abandon  I  seated  myself  upon 
the  counter,  and  told  all  the  stories  I  knew, 
and  sang  the  jolliest  "  shanty "  (chanty) 
songs,  but  the  chorus  was  weak,  and  one  by 
one  the  company  I  had  thrust  myself  upon 
deserted,  until  at  last  the  drowsy  bar-keeper 
was  the  only  companion  left  to  me.  My 
money  and  my  powers  of  entertaining,  that 
I  had  so  often  used  with  success  aboard  my 
yacht,  did  not  prove  attractive  enough  to 
secure  me  a  handful  of  men  to  make  a  night 
of  it  with.  However,  I  had  in  a  measure  re 
gained  my  composure,  and  my  native  pluck 
helped  in  my  need,  while  the  thought  of 


MOONBLIGHT.  2  9 

what  my  old  comrades  would  say,  if  they 
saw  me  lose  courage  over  a  fit  of  indiges 
tion,  set  me  on  my  feet  again.  After  helping 
the  bar-keeper  close  up,  I  returned  to  my 
room.  Before  I  could  seat  myself  there  was 
a  knock  at  my  unclosed  door,  and,  looking 
around,  I  saw  Sam,  the  bar-keeper,  whom  I 
had  just  left. 

"  Come  in,"  I  said,  not  for  politeness'  sake, 
but  with  the  hope  that  he  would  do  so, 
"  Come  in,  Sam,  and  have  a  smoke  !  " 

''Thanks,"  said  Sam;  "I  thought  I  would 
drop  in  a  minute  to  tell  you  that  it's  no  use 
your  trying  to  make  friends  with  them  fel 
lers,"  jerking  his  thumb  in  a  manner  that  in 
dicated  the  bar-room,  "  for  they's  outer  yer 
and  know  that  you're  one  of  the  mine  own 
ers." 

"  Sit  down,  Sam,"  said  I,  in  a  cordial  man 
ner — cordial,  because  I  liked  Sam,  and  was  in 
hopes  he  would  sit  down. 

Sam  seated  himself,  but  declined  to  smoke, 
and  as  an  apology  said  he  never  had  learned 
how  to  use  tobacco. 

"Now,  Sam,"  said  I,  " what's  the  matter 
with  those  men  ?  I  am  not  an  aristocrat,  I 
am  only  a  man,  just  the  same  as  they  are, 
maybe  a  little  better  educated  and  dressed  in 


30  MOONB  LIGHT. 

finer  cloth,  but  they  have  the  same  opportu 
nities  that  my  father  had  to  gather  wealth, 
for  he  worked  as  a  day  laborer,  as  a  farm 
hand,  and  as  a  flatboat-man  on  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  Rivers." 

"  Hold  on,  Mister  !  "  said  Sam.      "  Not  so 
fast !  "    The  sleepy  bar-keeper  brightened  up, 


and  his  eyes  snapped  as  he  repeated,  "  Not 
so  fast,  Mister !  You're  way  off,  clean  off 
your  base.  Do  you  suppose  that  you  would 
have  the  same  chance  as  your  old  man  did  if 
you  had  no  money  ready  made  for  you  ?  Not 
by  a  long  shot  !  When  your  dad  and  mine 
were  young  men,  the  land  was  not  all  owned 


MOONBLIGHT.  3 1 

by  a  few  men  ;  there  was  plenty  of  room 
West,  and  plenty  of  work." 

"  Bosh  !  "  said  I.  "  There  is  plenty  of  work 
yet  ;  and  as  for  the  West,  there  is  plenty  of 
room  there — acres  and  acres  of  land.  I  tell 
you  such  talk  is  all  humbug  !  " 

Sam's  face  changed  ;  he  smiled  and  winked 
at  me  in  a  knowing  manner,  and  started  to 
leave. 

"Hold  on,.  Sam;  don't  go  yet,"  said  I, 
dreading  to  be  left  alone  more  than  I  feared 
his  bar-room  arguments. 

Sam  reseated  himself,  and  turning  the 
conversation  said,  "  Did  you  ever  see  me 
drink  ? " 

"  Come  to  think  about  it,  no,"  I  answered. 

"  Or  smoke?" 

"  You  have  just  declined." 

"  Do  you  think  I  am  fond  of  tending 
counter  in  a  gin-mill  ?" 

"  Can't  say,  Sam,  as  I  ever  thought  of 
it." 

"  Well,  I'm  not !  "  said  he  in  a  decided  tone. 
"  I  sometimes  think  I  would  rather  be  in 
hell;  and  I  can  give  you  the  straight  tip  that 
I  ain't  far  from  it,  either,  when  I  stand  be 
hind  the  bar  !  Why  don't  I  leave  ?  Because 
I'm  a  slave" 

*  OF  THB** 

VIX7IBSIT?] 


3  2  MOONBLIGHT. 

Slave !  The  word  brought  up  that  cursed 
picture  again. 

"  Nonsense  ! "  said  I,  trying  to  drive  the 
vision  away. 

"  Ain't  I  ?  "  replied  Sam,  in  a  fierce  and  sul 
len  tone.  "  Look  here  !  You're  a  land-owner 
and  I  am  not.  Now,  somebody  owns  all 
the  land,  and  as  I  own  none  of  it,  and  you 
and  I  are  all  thet's  present  at  this  yere  mass- 
meeting,  you  might  as  well  represent  der 
hull  gang  of  landlords  and  I  der  hull  gang 
of  landless  slaves!' 

"  Don't  call  them  that,  Sam.  I  don't  like 
to  hear  it." 

"  I  won't;  but  I'll  prove  to  you  that  they 
are.  Here,"  he  said — suddenly  bringing  to 
view  from  the  pocket  of  his  sack-coat  one  of 
those  wonderful  chains  carved  out  of  a  sin 
gle  piece  of  wood  and  yet  with  separate 
links,  and  a  ball  inside  a  cube  at  the  end,  that 
we  sometimes  see  exhibited  as  the  work  of 
prisoners,  executed  to  while  away  the  tedious 
hours  of  their  captivity — "  Here,"  he  said, 
"is  something  I  have  made  myself  with  a 
jack-knife." 

"  It  is  very  curiously  and  skillfully  made," 
I  said,  examining  it  with  interest. 

"Is  it  mine?" 


MOONBLIGHT. 


33 


"  Yes,"  I  assented,  "  I  suppose  it  is  if  you 
haven't  given  it  away  or  sold  it  to  any  one." 

"  I  ain't  giving  nothing  away,"  said  Sam. 
"  It  ain't  wuth  to  sell.  All  the  same,  I  cut  it 
outn  a  solid  cedar  stick  and  just  fur  arge- 
ment's  sake,  we'll  'low  it's  wuth  money  and 
stands  for  my  labor.  Make  believe,  while 
we're  about  it,  thet  this  yere  is  all  I  got — 
see  ? — all  I  got;  and  thet's  not  so  far  from 
true,  as  the  first  part  of  the  make  believe. 
Now,  bein'  as  I'm  too  poor,  barrin'  this  yere 
chain,  to  buy  land,  and  you  own  every  inch 
of  it,  you  say  to  me,  says  you,  '  You're  on 
my  land,'  says  you.  'Well,' says  I,  '  I  ain't 
doin'  no  harm  standing  here,  am  I  ? ' 
'You're  trespassin' '  says  you,  '  trespassin'  on 
my  property,,  see  ?'  Well,  what  kin  a  fel 
low  do  ?  Dead  or  alive,  I  got  to  trespass. 
No  place  for  me  as  don't  own  no  land  as 
ain't  a  trespass  to  stand  or  lie  down  on." 
'  Well,'  says  you,  '  you  let  me  have  a  link  of 
that  there  chain,  and  I'll  let  you  stand  there,' 
says  you." 

"  But  Sam,"  said  I,  "  your  hand  has  not 
forgotten  its  cunning.  Can't  you  make 
another  chain  ?  " 

"No,  siree ! "  said  Sam  emphatically. 
"Ain't  no  difference  how  many  chains  the 


34 


MOOiVBLIGHT. 


under  dog  makes,  land  goin'  up  all  the  time 
in  price,  see  ?      And   every  chain-maker  as 


"so  MY  CHAIN'S  MAKIN'  ME  A  SLAVE,  SEE?" 

comes  over  here  makes  my  chain  wuth  less 
compared  with  what  I  got  to  pay  for  stand- 


MOONBLIGHT.  35 

ing-room.  So  my  chain's  makin'  me  a 
slave,  see  ?  Soon  you'll  tell  me  thet  my 
time  is  up  and  thet  I  am  in  your  way  ;  thet 
there's  another  fellow  expected  here  from 
Europe,  and  he'll  want  to  stand  in  my 
place;  and  again  I  dicker  for  the  right  by  giv 
ing  you  more  of  my  chain,  till  at  last  I  ain't 
got  none  left.  Do  you  call  me  a  freeman? 
I  tell  you,  I  am  a  slave  that  must  needs  beg 
for  work,  and  take  what  work  is  thrown  to 
him.  Yes,  and  I,  a  man  who  never  uses 
liquor,  must  sell  it  to  these  poor,  underpaid, 
overworked  men  around  here,  because  I 
have  a  wife  and  children,  and  dare  not  give 
up  this  situation.  Call  you  this  freedom  ?  The 
South  was  full  of  just  such  freedom  before  I 
enlisted  and  fought  through  the  war  to  free, 
the  black  slaves,  and  never  tumbled  to  the 
fact  that  my  own  arms  and  legs  were  soon 
to  have  shackles  made  for  'em.  I  am  a  bar 
keeper  in  a  one-horse,  brown-sugar  tavern, 
and  you  a  millionaire.  Can  you  tell  me 
why?" 

Sam  rose,  and  held  out  his  hand,  and  said, 
"  I  did  not  mean  to  let  drive  like  that:  I  only 
wished  to  explain  why  those  duffers  down 
stairs  won't  be  friendly  and  open  wid  you. 
It  is  because  they  are  afraid  of  you.  You 


36  MOONBL1GHT. 

might  as  well  see  things  as  they  really  are. 
Good-night."  And  he  disappeared  in  the 
gloom  of  the  hallway,  leaving  me  alone 
with  my  troublesome  thoughts. 

That  there  was  a  something  between  me 
and  the  men,  I  felt  to  be  true.  I  could  not 
talk  to  them  without  feeling  that  it  was  only 
politeness  that  made  them  answer  me,  for  it 
was  evident  that  I  had  not  their  confidence. 
It  was  also  evident  that  the  dismal  weather 
had  affected  Sam  as  well  as  myself,  for  in 
my  occasional  visits  to  this  place,  I  had 
heretofore  found  him  one  of  the  jolliest  of 
fellows,  always  with  a  witty  remark  ready 
to  slip  off  the  end  of  his  tongue  or  a  comical 
story  to  relate. 

What  did  he  mean  by  "seeing  things  as 
they  really  are"  ? 

It  has  been  my  custom  through  life  not  to 
think  of  disagreeable  things — a  custom  I 
have  cultivated  to  such  an  extent  that  I  have 
been  able,  under  the  most  trying  circum 
stances,  forcibly  to  turn  my  thoughts  into 
pleasant  channels.  When  a  friend  used  me 
badly,  I  would  not  allow  my  thought  to 
dwell  upon  it.  If  the  stocks  I  held  went 
down,  I  congratulated  myself  upon  possess 
ing  other  securities  that  were  booming.  If, 


MOONBLIGHT. 


37 


as  it  once  happened  off  Buzzard's  Bay,  my 
foresail  was  carried  away,  I  opened  a  bottle, 
and  drank  to  the  health  of  the  mainsail. 

So    now,   following    my    usual    custom,  I 
took    my   mental    self    in   hand,  and    com- 


SEEING   THINGS   AS   THEY    REALLY   ARE.— 

"WHY,    LORD    BLESS    YOU,    SONNY,    I'VE    NOTHING    IN    MY    BAG 
FOR   YOU ! " 

menced  to  plan  a  yachting  cruise  for  next 
year.  I  would  have  a  most  charming  party, 
of  both  sexes,  aboard.  Delightful  I  knew  it 
would  be,  for  me  at  least,  for  among  the 
guests  would  be  one  whose  presence  never 


38  MOONBLIGHT. 

yet  had  failed  to  so  affect  all  my  surround 
ings  as  to  make  all  objects  appear  beautiful, 
all  sounds  seem  harmony,  all  conversation 
poetry.  And  as  I  thought  of  this,  Sam's  part 
ing  remark,  "  You  might  as  well  see  things 
as  they  really  are,"  came  to  my  mind  unbid 
den,  and  so  suddenly  that  I  started,  thinking 
for  the  instant  that  I  had  just  heard  the  sen 
tence  repeated. 

Might  it  not  be  possible  that,  if  we  did  see 
things  as  they  really  are,  all  would  be  beau 
tiful  ?  Nature  is  a  divine  handiwork,  and 
must  be  beautiful;  and  if  we  saw  her  in  her 
real  light,  and  compared  our  impressions,  the 
result  must  be  poetry,  and  then,  possibly, 
all  sound,  to  our  better-educated  ears,  would 
make  a  symphony.  The  dog  whose  sense 
of  smell  is  so  remarkably  acute  that  he  can 
follow  his  master's  footsteps  over  a  path 
trodden  by  numbers  of  people,  hours  after 
his  master  has  passed ;  to  whom  each  sepa 
rate  stone,  stick,  leaf,  and  bit  of  vegetation 
has  a  separate  smell,  and  who,  if  he  could 
talk,  might  say,  "A  hare  passed  here,"  "  A 
partridge  sat  there,"  "  A  child  passed  this 
way  followed  by  a  lamb,"  "  On  this  stump 
sat  a  cat  an  hour  since  " — an  animal  with  such 
a  refined  sense  of  smell  as  this  will  sneeze 


MOONBLIGHT.  39 

and  show  every  sign  of  pain  and  disgust 
when  a  perfumed  handkerchief  is  put  to  its 
nose,  and  yet  will  roll  with  delight  on  carrion, 
for  no  other  purpose  than  to  scent  its  body 
with  an  odor  unbearable  to  its  master's  dull 
er  and  comparatively  crude  sense  of  smell. 
The  dog  undoubtedly  has  a  more  highly 
developed  sense  of  smell  than  we  have,  and 
why  is  he  not  a  better  judge  of  odors  ? 

I  laughed  as  I  thought  how  pleasant  some 
sections  of  New  York  would  be  if  I  could 
only  smell  things  as  they  really  are;  and, 
becoming  mentally  facetious,  I  imagined  the 
heaven  a  man  with  the  dog's  keen  sense  of 
smell  would  find  on  this  earth;  the  sight  of 
an  artist,  who  can  see  beauty  in  a  discolored 
door,  a  battered  brass  kettle,  or  a  yellow 
pumpkin;  and  the  ears  of  a  poet,  to  whom 
the  harsh  language  with  which  the  plowman 
addressed  his  horses  or  oxen,  the  roar  of  a 
wild  beast,  the  silly  talk  of  an  awkward, 
freckled  country  girl,  appear,  when  filtered 
through  his  cultured  ear,  as  the  most  perfect 
harmony; — and,  I  might  add,  the  happy  men 
tal  composition  of  a  Fourth  of  July  orator, 
who  sees  nothing  but  what  is  great  and 
grand  in  his  country. 

A  Fourth  of  July   orator,  by  the  way — I 


4O  MOONBLIGHT. 

thought— I  have  heard  them  when  I  was  a 
lad,  but  not  lately.  What  jolly  times  we 
used  to  have  in  the  grove,  listening  to  the 
reading  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  ! 
And  all  the  country  people  would  bring 
their  lunch  with  them,  and  munch  it  as  they 
listened  to  the  annually  repeated  words : 

WE  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident :  that  all  men 
are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator 
with  certain  tmalienable  rights;  that  among  these  are  life, 
liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 

Why  do  we  not  hear  it  read  now  as  it  was 
when  I  was  a  child  ?  Are  we  conscious  that 
we  are,  by  our  lives,  giving  the  lie  to  it  ? 
Bosh  !  I  exclaimed,  as  I  again  took  a  firm 
hold  of  my  rebellious  mind,  and  tried  for 
cibly  to  steer  it  away  from  the  rocks  I  saw 
ahead.  As  I  did  so,  I  was  conscious,  for  the 
first  time,  that  I  did  not  wish  to  see  things 
as  they  really  are,  for  fear  the  truth  might 
be  unpleasant  to  me  ;  yet,  while  I  was  con 
scious  of  this,  I  did  not  admit  it  to  myself, 
but,  losing  my  grip  for  a  time,  I  allowed 
my  annoyance  to  manifest  itself  in  mental 
railings  against  society,  politics,  church  and 
state — in  fact,  against  everything  except 
myself. 

At  last,  jumping  up  from  my  seat,  I  paced 


MOONBLIGHT.  4! 

the  floor,  exclaiming,  "  What  ails  me  any 
how  ?  What  ails  Sam  ?  And  what  did  he 
mean  by  his  parting  shot,  'You  might  as 
well  see  things  as  they  really  are'?"  "I 
wish  I  could  !  "  I  exclaimed  impatiently.  "  I 
wish  I  could  !  "  I  repeated  thoughtfully.  "  I 
wish  I  could  only  see  things  as  they  really 
are,  and  not  as  a  diseased  imagination 
makes  them  appear,"  I  said  at  last  earnestly; 
and  as  I  again  seated  myself,  the  words  were 
repeated  mentally.  The  pattering  rain  out 
side  took  up  the  strain,  and  repeated  over 
and  over  again,  with  the  tireless  monotony 
of  machinery — I  wish  I  could  see  things  as 
they  really  are,  I  wish  I  could  see  things  as 
they  really  are,  I  wish,  etc. 


CHAPTER  II. 

HE  bedroom  was  just  as 
I  had  left  it — the  vellum 
book   on   the  floor,   and 
the  light  burning.  I  pick 
ed  up  the  book,  and 
without  daring-  to 
look    at    the    gaudy 
initials,   replaced    it 
carefully    upon    the 
bookshelf,  and  took 
down   another  volume 
bound  in   red   pigskin. 
On    the    back,  in  gold 
paint,  was    the    simple 
word,  "  Magus  "  ;  below 
the   bearded    figure    of   a 
man,  with  long  finger  and  toe 


nails, 
head 


The  figure  had  on  his 
a  high -topped,  royal 
crown,  and  held  an  arrow  in 
his  right  hand,  the  point  of 
which  rested  over  the  eye  of  a 
dragon,  between  whose  batlike  wings  this 
strange  personage  sat,  with  his  legs  hanging 

42 


MOONBLIGHT.  43 

on  both  sides.  At  the  bottom  was  the 
legend,  "  Bene  Lightmans,  London,  1601." 

Ah  !  Here  I  had  something  that  I  knew 
could  only  amuse  me — a  real  old  book  of 
magic,  a  book  of  old  superstitions.  Although 
witchcraft  is  supposed  to  be  a  thing  of  the 
past  among  enlightened  people,  yet  who  can 
deny  that  much  of  the  superstition  upon 
which  it  was  built  still  lurks  in  the  most  en 
lightened  minds  ? — that  is,  if  you  count  your 
selves  among  the  enlightened  ones. 

Whether  this  is  imbibed  with  our  mother's 
milk,  or  grafted  upon  the  tender  mind  of 
childhood  by  superstitious  old  nurses,  it  mat 
ters  not:  we  have  every  day  indisputable 
evidence  that  it  is  there,  and  I  suppose  I  have 
my  share;  and,  possibly,  the  leaven  of  super 
stition  in  my  mental  composition  helped  to 
lend  a  charm  to  this  old  pigskin-covered 
book,  with  its  bedeviled  back  and  strangely 
figured  leaves. 

Once  again  my  interest  as  a  bookworm 
was  aroused;  once  again  I  lighted  my  pipe, 
and,  comfortably  fixed  in  my  chair  before 
the  stove,  I  resolved  to  make  a  night  of  it — 
not  with  the  poor,  degraded,  hunted-looking 
wretches  that  frequented  the  bar,  but  with 
the  fantastical  whims  and  nonsense  of  our 


44 


MOONBLIGHT. 


ancestors — nonsense  for  which  many  a  poor 
old  woman  and  many  a  good  man  paid 
dearly  in  the  old  days,  when  fagots  and 
bonfires  were  used  as  expressions  of  faith  in 
the  power  of  cabalistic  signs.  Thank  God, 
those  days  are  over,  and  a  man  may  now 


read    unmolested     whatsoever   pleases    his 
fancy  ! 

The  publisher  of  the  book  I  now  held  in 
my  hands,  solemnly  and  apparently  in  good 
faith  opens  with  a  definition  of  witchcraft, 
especially  in  women,  and  goes  on  to  state, 
in  his  own  peculiar  style,  as  follows  : 


MOONBLIGHT.  45 

PUBLISHER'S  PREFACE.    [TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  ORIGINAL 
LATIN.] 

WE  have  infinite  instances  of  witchcraft  in  history 
which  it  were  not  fair  to  set  aside  merely  because  they 
are  not  reconcilable  to  our  personal  philosophy;  but,  as 
it  happens,  there  is  something  in  real  philosophy  to  coun 
tenance  them. 

All  living  things,  we  know,  emit  effluvia,  both  by  the 
breath  and  the  pores  of  the  skin.  All  bodies,  therefore, 
within  the  sphere  of  their  perspiratory  or  expiratory  efflu 
via  will  be  affected  by  them;  and  that,  in  this  or  another 
manner,  according  to  the  quality  of  the  effluvia;  and  in 
this  or  that  degree,  according  to  the  disposition  of  the 
emittent  and  the  recipient  parts.  In  confirmation  there 
of,  we  need  only  call  attention  to  infectious  diseases  con 
veyed  by  effluvia. 

Now,  of  all  parts  of  an  animal  body,  the  eye,  we  know, 
is  the  quickest.  It  moves  with  the  greatest  celerity  and 
in  all  variety  of  directions.  Again,  its  coats  and  humours 
are  as  permeable  as  any  other  part  of  the  body  (witness 
the  rays  of  light  it  so  copiously  receives).  The  eye,  there 
fore,  no  doubt,  emits  its  effluvia  like  the  other  parts.  The 
fine  humours  of  the  eye  must  be  continually  exhaling. 
The  heat  of  the  pervading  rays  will  rarefy  and  attenuate 
them;  and  that,  with  the  subtile  juice  or  spirit  of  the 
neighboring  optic  nerve,  supplied  in  great  abundance  by 
the  vicinity  of  the  brain,  must  make  a  fund  of  volatile 
matter  to  be  dispensed,  and,  as  it  were,  determined  by 
the  eye.  For,  as  Tacitus  remarks  on  the  savage  figures 
of  the  Germans,  the  eyes  of  men  are  first  overcome  in 
battle. 

Here,  then,  we  have  both  the  dart  and  the  hand  to 
fling  it — the  one  furnished  with  all  the  force  and  vehe- 


46  MOONBLIGHT. 

mence,  and  the  other  with  all  the  sharpness  and  activity, 
one  would  require.  No  wonder  if  their  effects  be  great. 

Do  but  conceive  the  eye  as  a  sling,  capable  of  the 
swiftest  and  intensest  motions  and  vibrations;  and,  again, 
as  communicating  with  a  source  of  such  matter  as  the 
nervous  juice  elaborated  in  the  brain — a  matter  so  subtile 
and  penetrating  that  it  is  supposed  to  fly  instantaneously 
through  the  solid  capillaments  of  the  nerves;  and  so  act 
ive  and  forcible  that  it  distends  and  convulses  the  mus 
cles  and  distorts  the  limbs  and  alters  the  whole  habitude 
of  the  body,  giving  motion  and  action  to  a  mass  of  inert, 
inactive  matter.  A  projectile  of  such  a  nature,  flung  by 
such  an  engine  as  the  eye,  must  have  an  effect  wherever  it 
strikes. 

This  theory,  we  are  of  the  opinion,  fully  accounts  for 
that  branch  of  witchcraft  called  fascination.  That  man  is 
not  secure  from  fascination  is  matter  of  easy  observation. 
Few  people  but  have,  again  and  again,  felt  the  effects  of  an 
angry,  a  fierce,  a  commanding,  a  disdainful,  a  lascivious, 
an  entreating  eye,  etc.  These  effects,  no  doubt,  are 
owing  to  the  different  ejaculations  of  the  eye,  and  are  a 
degree  of  witchcraft. 

Following  this  description,  and  serving  as 
a  sort  of  tail-piece,  is  a  colored  illustration 
of  an  eye,  encircled  by  words  in  strange 
characters.  It  is,  or  at  least  it  appeared  to  me 
then,  an  uncanny  object.  But  this  explana 
tion  of  the  power  of  witchcraft  entertained 
me,  and  struck  me  as  being  ingenious,  and 
I  was  amused  and  interested  when  the 
publisher  promised  that  the  author  would 


MOONBLIGHT.  47 

teach  the  reader  how  to  do  many  wonderful 
things,  until,  like  the  dwarf  in  "  Valentine 
and  Orson,"  "he  would  learn  so  much  of  the 
arte  of  nygromancy  that,  above  all  others,  he 
would  be  perfyte ;"  but  what  particularly  in 
terested  me  was  the  promise  that  the  art  of 
the  transmutation  of  metals  would  also  be 
taught.  I  turned  to  the  page  indicated  as 
containing  this  secret  (for  which  I  have  no 
apology  to  offer,  and  can  only  say  that  if  my 
reader  would 
have  preferred 
the  part  which 
told  of  the  won- 
derful  bone  from 
the  right  side  of  "'  WISH  r  COUL°  SEE  THINGS  AS 

&  THEY    REALLY   ARE." 

Pliny's  red  toad, 

which,  if  removed  and  placed  in  water, 
would  cause  the  water  to  boil,  and,  if  admin 
istered  in  food  to  a  lady,  would  cause  a 
degree  of  love  for  the  donor  equal  in 
intensity  to  boiling  water,  the  reader  is 
welcome  to  his  choice).  What  I  wanted 
to  know  was  how  to  turn  the  baser  metals 
into  gold.  With  that  secret  I  would  form 
a  syndicate  of  one  person  that  would 
make  the  Standard  Oil,  sugar  trust,  and  rail 
roads  turn  green  with  envy;  and  I  could 


48  MOONBLIGHT. 

then  hunt  for  the  red  toad  of  Pliny  if  I  wish 
ed.  However,  having  already  gained  the 
affections  of,  to  my  mind,  the  most  beautiful 
and  loveliest  girl  in  Pennsylvania,  Pliny  and 
his  red  toad  possessed  no  great  attractions 
for  me. 

Now,  all  this  time,  while  my  thoughts,  re 
acting  from  their  former  gloomy  turn,  were 
wandering  among  the  mysteries  of  the  book 
of  magic  in  a  jolly,  reckless,  yet,  although 
unconsciously,  a  half-serious  manner,  I  was 
involuntarily  repeating  to  myself,  "  I  wish  I 
could  see  things  as  they  really  are,"  so  that  it 
seemed  as  if  I  had  a  dual  mind,  one  of  which 
was  occupied  with  the  sentence  just  quoted, 
and  the  other  with  the  old  book  before  me. 

Again  I  was  doomed  to  disappointment, 
for,  as  I  read,  in  place  of  the  nonsense  I  ex 
pected,  this  was  what  met  my  eye  : 

Beware  of  flattery,  self-love,  and  covetousness,  so  wilt 
thou  thrive;  and  be  diligent  in  thy  occupation,  so  shall 
thy  body  be  fed.  Idleness  is  offensive  to  the  Deity.  In 
dustry  shall  sweeten  thy  brown  bread,  and  the  fruits  of  it 
shall  warm  thy  heart  with  gratitude  to  Him  that  blesses 
thee  with  enough.  Seek  for  no  more,  for  it  will  damn  thee. 
It  has  been  said  by  Him  who  never  spoke  in  vain,  that  man 
shall  get  bread  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow. 

I  hurriedly  turned  over  the  leaves,  for  I 


MOONBLIGHT. 


49 


was  not  looking  for  moral  lessons,  especially 
in  the  devil's  book.  At  last  I  found  the  di 
rections  I  was  in  search  of. 

"  I  wish  I  could  see  things  as  they  really 
are,"  said  one  member  of  my  dual  mind. 
"  And  I  believe  I  am  beginning  to,"  replied 
the  other.  "  Can  it  not  be  possible  that  be 
neath  all  this  apparent  nonsense  some  great 
truths  are  hidden  ?  What  are  all  these  cir 
cles  and  signs  ?  Where  did  they  come  from  ? 
Directly  handed  down  from  the  Magi  of  the 
East — symbols  of  a  masonry  that  antedates 
masonry,  and  is,  perhaps,  the  father  of  ma 
sonry." 

I  once  again  turned  to  my  book,  and  read  : 

When  thy  spiritual  eye  is  opened,  thou  shalt  begin  to 
see  to  what  end  thou  wert  created,  thou  shalt  want  no  nec 
essary  thing,  either  for  thy  comfort  or  support.  Only 
keep  the  rules:  Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself  ;  arrogate 
nothing  to  thine  own  power,  for  he  who  desires  spiritual 
knowledge  cannot  obtain  it  by  any  means  but  by  first  puri 
fying  his  own  heart. 

These  are  strange  words  for  a  humbug,  a 
common  necromancer,  a  fake !  Might  it  not 
be  possible  that,  in  the  dark  ages  of  persecu 
tion  and  violence,  when  wise  men  were  wont 
to  hold  their  tongues  between  their  teeth,  to 
escape  the  alternative  of  having  them  drag- 


50  MOONBLIGHT. 

ged  from  their  mouths,  they  had  recourse  to 
cipher,  understood  only  by  the  initiated  ?  We 
all  know  that  some  people  claim  that  by  a 
system  or  science  of  correspondences  they 
can  explain  most  beautifully  many  mysteri 
ous  chapters  of  Holy  Writ.  I  began  to  won 
der  whether  the  old  alchemists,  who  claimed 
to  be  able  to  manufacture  gold,  might  not 
have  told  the  truth,  not  in  the  sense  I  had 
always  supposed  they  meant,  but  in  a  higher 
and  better  sense. 

"  I  wish  I  could  see  things  as  they  really 
are,"  continued  to  repeat  the  pattering  rain  ; 
and  again  before  my  mind  rose  the  image 
of  the  chain-gang  of  slaves  ;  but  this  time  I 
felt  no  alarm,  and  gradually  I  saw  that  it 
was  the  string  of  miners,  with  begrimed 
faces,  that  I  had  confused  with  the  picture  of 
negroes ;  at  the  same  time  I  was  aware  of 
the  fact  that  the  clanking  dinner-pails  might 
indeed  represent  the  chains  of  the  negroes. 
Was  not  I  a  part  owner  of  that  slave-gang 
of  American  citizens  ?  The  thought  went 
through  me  like  an  electric  shock. 

Again  I  turned  to  the  strange  volume,  and 
read  : 

When  thou   shalt  have  so  far  purified  thy  heart,  as  we 


MOONBLIGHT.  5 1 

have  spoken  is  indispensably  necessary  for  the  receiving 
every  good  thing,  thou  shalt  then  see  with  other  eyes  than 
thou  dost  at  present.  Thy  spiritual  eye  will  be  opened,  and 
thou  shalt  read  man  as  plain  as  thou  wilt  our  books.  .  .  . 
All  philosophers  agree  that,  the  first  matter  being  found, 
we  may  proceed  without  much  difficulty,  for  the  Prima 
Materia,  I  say,  is  to  be  found  in  ourselves;  we  all  possess 
the  Prima  Materia,  from  the  beggar  to  the  king.  .  .  . 
I  pray  thee,  my  friend,  look  into  thyself,  and  endeavor  to 
find  out  in  what  part  of  thy  composition  is  this  Prima 
Materia  of  the  lapis  philosophorum,  or  of  what  part  of  thy 
substance  can  the  first  matter  be  drawn  out. 

"In  myself,  then,  is  this  Prima  Materia" 
said  I,  closing  the  book,  "  and  in  myself  must 
I  look  for  it  if  I  wish  to  see  things  as  they 
really  are,  and  read  men  as  books.  The  crude 
metal — the  lead,  the  mercury,  the  iron — is 
the  slave-gangs,  with  their  begrimed  faces, 
and  of  them  I  can  make  so  much  pure  gold." 

I  opened  the  volume  again,  and  my  gaze 
was  riveted  upon  the  strange,  colored  draw 
ing  of  the  eye;  and  as  I  stared  at  it,  won 
dering  at  the  peculiar  fascination  it  seemed 
now  to  exert  over  me,  my  dual  mind  kept 
up  its  refrain  of,  "  I  wish  I  could  see  things 
as  they  really  are." 

Suddenly  a  peculiar  and  indescribable  sen 
sation  took  possession  of  my  nerves.  My 
chest  seemed  broader  and  deeper,  my  arms 


5  2  MOONB LIGHT. 

stronger,  my  frame  larger  ;  but  I  dreaded  to 
look  toward  the  mirror,  and  in  avoiding  it  I 
noticed  that  bands  of  light,  like  electric  light 
in  color,  were  streaming  past  the  edges  of  the 
window-blind  into  my  room,  making  the 
lamplight  look  a  bright  orange  by  contrast. 
I  pulled  up  the  blind.  It  was  dawn.  The 
clouds  were  rolling  up  the  mountain  like 
great  rolls  of  raw  cotton,  and  the  light-blue 
sky  shone,  clear  and  beautiful,  in  the  spaces 
between  the  fleeing  vapor.  "  A  nor'west 
wind,  cool  and  clear." 

As  the  curtains  of  mist  were  lifted,  I  could 
see  for  miles  through  the  transparent  air;  and 
as  the  sunlight  burst  forth,  each  drop  of  rain 
that  lingered  on  twig  or  branch  became  a 
miniature  sun  that  reflected  back  the  glitter 
of  its  great  king  in  the  sky.  A  belated  robin, 
that  seemed  somewhat  confused  in  regard  to 
his  calendar,  commenced  a  wild,  hilarious 
''Ghee-wink,  chee-wee,"  evidently  under  the 
impression  that  his  winter  migration  was 
over,  and  spring  had  come  again. 

Again  a  file  of  miners  passed,  trudging 
through  the  mud.  The  merry  song  of  the 
bird  had  no  effect  upon  them,  and  I  saw  them 
as  they  really  were — a  band  of  degraded, 
disheartened  slaves.  I  read  them  as  I  might 


MOONBLIGHT. 


53 


a  book,  and  in  this  human  book  I  read  my 
own  disgrace.  I,  an  American,  whose  father 
fought  to  free  the  black  slaves  of  the  South, 
whose  grandfather  fought  in  the  war  of  1812 
to  free  the  sea  of  slave  sailors,  whose  great 
grandfather  fought  for  that  grand  document 
which  declared  that  all  men  were  born  free 
and  equal — I,  the  American,  in  the  "  land  of 
the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave,"  was 
part  owner  of  a  band  of  miserable  white 
slaves,  and  was  here,  in  this  town,  in  this 
little  hotel,  the  American  House — for  what 
purpose  ?  Principally  to  consult  with  the 
other  slave-drivers  about  restricting  the  out 
put  of  coal,  that  I  and  they  might  raise  its 
price  by  causing  untold  suffering  to  these 
already  miserable  miners,  and  add  to  the  ex 
pense  of  living  for  the  poor,  taxed,  and  rack- 
rented  people  of  the  city — that  we  might 
have  more  money  to  spend  on  yachts  ! 

I  almost  wished  that  the  cursed  pigskin- 
covered  book,  with  its  companion  in  vellum, 
had  been  destroyed  before  I  could  have  read 
them,  moonling  that  I  was.  Moonblight  ? 
It  was  only  temporary.  I  now  kneiv  that  I 
was  sane,  but  untold  wealth  could  not  tempt 
me  to  look  into  the  glass. 

It  was  a  custom  of  mine  to  shave  myself 


54 


MOON  R  LIGHT. 


THE   CURSED    PIGSKIN-COVERED    HOOK. 


each  morning,  and  I 
wore    neither    beard 
nor    mustache.      My 
razor   was  acknow 
ledged    by    all    my 
boon  companions  on 
board  the   yacht  to  be 
the  best,  and  there  had 
always  been  much  wise 
talk  about  this  and  that 
soap,  razor,  and  strop, 
as  we  tested  the  keen 
edges   of   our    favorite 
blades  each  morning 
after   our   plunge   in 
the  Sound  or  in  the 
harbor.    But  of  what 
use    was  a  beautiful 
razor,  with 
no  glass  to 
shave  by  ? 
I  made  one 
attempt  to 
do  without 
a  glass,  but 
the    blood 
flowed    so 
copiously 


MOONBL  TGHT.  §  5 

that  it  was  some  time  before  I  could  make 
a  piece  of  court-plaster  adhere  to  my  chin. 
I  then  carefully  wiped  the  razor  dry,  re 
placed  it  in  its  case,  and  proceeded  with 
my  toilet.  I  put  on  clean  linen,  but  when 
it  came  to  tying  my  four-in-hand  scarf,  I 
was  in  a  fix.  I  had  never  tried  it  before 
without  a  glass  ;  but  after  a  while  I  made  a 
knot  that  felt  all  right,  and  stuck  my  scarf- 
pin  in.  The  remainder  was  plain  sailing. 
My  shoes  were  muddy  from  the  day  before, 
and  I  started  down  stairs  to  get  a  little 
hump-backed  hanger-on  of  the  hotel  to  black 
them  for  me.  This  hump-backed  man,  or 
boy,  was  a  favorite  of  mine  ;  he  was  always 
so  polite  and  withal  so  witty  and  bright  that 
I  generally  paid  him  with  a  silver  quarter  in 
place  of  the  customary  five-cent  nickel, — five 
cents  for  the  shine  and  twenty  because  he 
amused  me.  I  found  "  Humpy, '  as  he  was 
called,  sweeping  out  the  office  or  bar-room  ; 
his  back  was  toward  me.  When  he  heard 
my  voice,  he  turned  with  a  pleasant  good- 
morning. 

Great  Goodness  !  Was  that  the  man  to 
whom  I  had  been  tossing  money,  as  one 
would  to  an  amusing  negro  in  slavery  times  ? 
Could  it  be  possible  that  I 


56  MOONBLIGHT. 

to  treat  him  as  an  inferior  being — a  dog,  who, 
when  he  sits  up  on  his  hind  legs  and  begs, 
is  to  be  rewarded  with  a  lump  of  sugar  ? 
I  blushed,  stammered,  but,  for  the  life  of  me, 
could  not  frame  the  words.  I  was  ashamed 
to  ask  him  to  black  my  boots.  Why  ?  Be 
cause  I  read  him  as  a  book — I  saw  him  as  he 
really  was.  There  was  no  hump  on  the  real 
man's  back,  there  was  nothing  comic  in  the 
real  man's  expression  ;  but  there  was  a 
grandeur  I  had  never  seen  before,  a  nobility 
I  had  often  pictured,  but  seldom  seen.  It 
seemed  almost  as  if  his  face  shone ;  and 
when  he  smiled,  and  asked  me  if  I  wanted  a 
shine  this  morning,  it  appeared  as  if  some 
one  else  was  speaking.  I  could  not  make 
the  words  fit  the  person  I  saw.  I  was  about 
to  decline,  when,  as  if  anticipating  me,  he 
said,  "  I'm  glad  that  you're  here,  boss,  'cause 
I  need  that  quarter  dis  morning,  you  bet!" 
Mechanically  I  seated  myself  ;  but  when  he 
bent  his  little  humped  back,  and  brought 
his  face  over  my  shoe,  I  could  not  sit  there. 
So,  quickly  handing  him  his  fee,  I  said, 
"  What's  your  name  ?  "  "  Humpy,"  he  re 
plied.  "  No  ;  your  real  name  ?  "  "  Nathaniel 
James."  "Well,  Nate,"  said  I,  "if  you  will 
kindly  excuse  me,  I  won't  take  a  shine  this 


MOONBLIGHT.  5  7 

morning.  I  don't  like  to  sit  still.  I  didn't 
sleep  well  last  night,  and  am  nervous." 

He  looked  up  at  me  with  eyes  that,  I  was 
conscious,  read  me  through.  He  also  saw- 
men  with  his  spiritual  eyes,  and  I  felt  more 
embarrassed  than  before,  when  I  knew  this 
to  be  true. 

Never  before  do  I  -remember  feeling 
ashamed  to  meet  a  fellow-man's  eye.  I  had 
always  prided  myself  on  being  perfectly 
square  in  my  dealings  with  all  men,  and, 
having  nothing  to  be  ashamed  of,  I  felt  no 
dread  of  any  one  ;  but  now  the  case  was 
changed.  Here  was  a  man  whose  character, 
aims,  and  life  were  so  far  above  mine  that  I 
dare  not  expose  myself  to  his  glance  ;  so, 
hastily  turning  my  back,  I  started  for  the 
barber-shop;  but  with  the  door-knob  in  my 
hand  I  stopped  short.  There  were  mirrors 
in  front  of  each  chair,  so  that  the  customers 
might  survey  themselves  during  all  stages 
of  the  treatment  by  the  tonsorial  artists  in 
charge.  If  there  was  one  person  on  earth 
that  I  did  not  want  to  see  as  he  really  was, 
that  person  was  myself.  So  I  went  to  the 
breakfast-room  with  my  shoes  unblacked 
and  my  face  unshaven — acts  of  which  I 
had  not  been  guilty  within  ten  years  at 


5  8  MO  ONB  L IGHT. 

least.  However,  there  was  fortunately  no 
one  at  my  end  of  the  table;  and  I  took 
up 'the  small,  damp  piece  of  cloth  which 
served  as  a  napkin,  and,  taking  care  to 
look  at  no  one,  I  ate  my  breakfast  as  it 
was  served. 


CHAPTER    III. 

HE  people  of  the  town   had  all 
noticed  a  change  in  me,  and 
from    the    significant     looks, 
L  nods,    and    winks,    I    readily 
^  understood  that  they  one  and 
all  considered  that  I  was  slight 
ly   demented,  or,  as  Sam  ex 
pressed  it,  "They  think  ye'r  a 
little  off."     But  I  knew  better. 
My    mind    had    never    been 
healthier,   clearer,    and 
brighter,  nor  my  perceptions 
keener  ;    and,   while    I    was 
conscious  of  the  fact  that 
the  new   powers    I    pos 
sessed  were  very  imper 
fect,  yet  the  change 
was     wonderful 
to  me. 

My  physical 
health  also  was 
most  robust.  Each  morning,  when  I  rose, 
it  was  with  no  touch  of  languor,  but  with 

59 


6O  MOONBLIGHT. 

an  exhilarated  feeling,  as  if  I  had  just 
had  a  shower  and  a  rub  down  after  a 
brisk  row  in  a  single  shell.  I  drank  no 
spirituous  liquor,  because,  being  in  a  natural 
state  of  mind  and  body,  I  needed  no  drug 
to  produce  an  artificial  sensation  of  health 
and  spirits  ;  in  fact,  any  preparation  of 
alcohol  appeared  to  me  as  abhorrent  as 
castor-oil,  quinine,  or  any  other  concoction 


"I    HAD   ATTENDED   A    MEETING   OF   MINE    OWNERS." 

made    by    physicians    for    weak    and    sick 
humanity. 

I  had  attended  a  meeting  of  mine  owners. 
I  saw  before  me  a  crowd  of  men,  most  of 
whom  I  knew  ;  that  is,  I  had  always  sup 
posed  that  I  knew  them — a  well-dressed, 
polite  party  of  men.  But  I  could  see  below 
the  surface.  Each  one  seemed  to  think  that 
his  neighbor  was  glass,  and  he  himself 
opaque,  while  to  me  all  were  so  transparent 
that  it  appeared  as  if  I  were  in  an  assem 
blage  of  children. 


MOONBLIGHT.  6 1 

Mr.  Keene,  whom  we  always  looked  up  to 
as  a  regular  Napoleon  in  business,  I  was  dis 
appointed  in.  It  appeared  manifest  that  his 
whole  success  came  from  keeping  his  coun 
tenance  placid,  with  a  knowing  look  in  his 
eye,  while  his  mind  was  barren  absolutely, 
without  a  plan  or  an  original  thought;  yet  he 
was  a  smart  man  for  all  that,  and  his  smart 
ness  consisted  in  simply  waiting  until  some 
one  else  suggested  a  bright  idea,  and  then, 
with  the  knowing  look  and  placid  face, 
immediately  appropriating  the  idea.  Rising 
to  his  feet,  he  would  state,  in  a  very  patron 
izing  manner,  that  the  only  practical  sug 
gestion  so  far  had  come  from  Mr.  Brown, 
and  it  coincided  with  his  preconceived  plans 
exactly.  Thereupon  he  would  paraphrase 
Mr.  Brown's  suggestion  in  such  a  manner 
that  Mr.  Brown  would  feel  highly  compli 
mented,  while  Mr.  Keene  would  wear  the 
laurels  that  properly  belonged  to  Mr.  Brown. 
I  saw  this  repeated  over  and  over  again,  yet 
no  one  else  seemed  to  be  aware  of  it. 

No  one  paid  any  attention  to  me  except 
by  a  good-natured  smile  or  nod.  They 
evidently  thought,  with  the  villagers,  that  1 
was  a  "  little  off."  My  beard  by  this  time 
was  stubby  and  my  mustache  of  about  the 


62  MOON  BLIGHT. 

consistency  of  a  worn-out  tooth-brush.  My 
hair  needed  trimming,  but  my  linen  was 
neat,  and  I  had  learned  to  black  my  own 
shoes,  and  paid  "  Humpy  "  his  quarter  a  day 
for  some  less  menial  service. 

At  this  meeting  I  listened  until  they  had 
about  decided  upon  a  plan  of  action  which  I 
saw  at  once  was  bound  to  work  great  hard 
ship  among  the  miners  and  the  poor  con 
sumers  in  the  city.  Then  I  rose  and  pointed 
out  these  facts  to  them. 

"  Business  is  business,"  said  Mr.  Keene. 
"  Our  business  is  to  look  out  for  our  inter 
ests;  that  of  others  to  look  out  for  theirs. 
I  think  that  settles  it." 

Now  it  so  happened  that  the  arrangement 
about  to  be  agreed  upon  would  benefit  Mr. 
Keene  more  than  any  present,  and  would 
even  be  a  great  disadvantage  to  two  others 
present  This  I  saw  in  Mr.  Keene's  mind; 
although  he  was  not  bright  enough  to  sug 
gest  the  proposed  plan,  he  could  see  how 
advantageous  it  \vould  be  to  him;  for  as  he 
saw  it,  I  read  his  thoughts  and  saw  it  too. 
So,  when  they  tried  to  shut  me  off  with 
cries  of  "Question!  Question!"  I  simply 
stood  there  until  there  was  a  lull,  and  then 
said: 


MOONBLIGHT.  63 

"  Mr.  Chairman,  I  believe  I  have  the 
floor  ? " 

"  You  have,  sir,  unless  you  wish  to  resign 
it  to  facilitate  business." 

"I  will  do  so  in  a  few  moments,"  I  replied. 

A  tired  look  crept  over  each  face,  as  the 
members  of  the  conference  settled  back  in 
their  chairs,  not  to  listen,  but  to  endure. 

"  Gentlemen,"  I  said,  "  you  really  must  not 
go  into  this  thing  blindly.  Next  to  Mr. 
Keene  himself,  I  would  be  the  one  most  ben 
efited  financially  by  this  arrangement ;  but 
there  is  Mr.  Brown,  who  suggested  the  idea, 
and  Mr.  White,  who  approved  of  it:  they 
will  be  absolute  losers  if  they  keep  to  their 
agreement." 

Mr.  Brown  and  Mr.  White  looked  interest 
ed.  Mr.  Keene  jumped  to  his  feet,  and 
wanted  to  know  if  I  had  not  just  stated  that 
Mr.  Brown  himself  suggested  the  idea.  Not 
noticing  the  interruption,  I  proceeded  to  put 
into  words  all  that  I  saw  in  Mr.  Keene's 
mind,  and  a  hubbub  followed.  Cries  of 
"Question!"  "Order!"  "Move  we  ad 
journ!"  "Previous  question!"  were  heard 
on  all  sides.  Mr.  White,  a  greedy,  vindic 
tive,  and  heartless  fellow,  with  the  polish  of 
a  courtier  and  the  mind  of  a  savage,  owing 


64  MOONBLIGHT. 

Mr.  Keene  a  grudge  for  some  past  transac 
tion,  was  loud  in  his  denunciation  of  this 
gentleman,  who,  he  claimed,  was  using  the 
conference  to  further  his  own  individual  in 
terest  ;  and,  to  my  astonishment,  this  savage 
pointed  out  how  Mr.  Keene  was  willing  to 
commit  any  injustice  to  the  poor,  toiling 
miners,  even  to  drive  them  past  the  verge  of 
starvation,  if  by  that  means  he  could  make 
a  dollar  or  two  ;  and  the  pathetic  picture  he 
drew  of  the  effect  upon  the  poor  laborer 
brought  tears  to  the  eyes  of  many  present. 
But  the  chairman  hammered  with  his  gavel, 
and  ruled  Mr.  White  out  of  order. 

Now,  amid  all  this,  I  saw  that  these  men, 
who  were  coolly  planning  to  rob  the  people 
of  so  much  money,  were  not  naturally  bad 
men.  Most  of  them  were  what  are  con 
sidered  charitable  people. 

After  I  sat  down,  I  received  no  more 
smiles  and  good-natured  nods.  Mr.  Keene 
looked  at  me  with  that  placid  face  and  know 
ing  look,  as  if  he  would  say,  "  You're  a  sharp 
one.  I  see  through  your  move  !"  But  I  knew 
that  he  did  not,  because  my  move  was  too 
simple;  there  was  nothing  behind  what  I  had 
said,  and  1  could  not  help  smiling  to  see 
Keene's  troubled  mind  taking  one  view  and 


MOONBLIGHT.  65 

then  another,  trying  tp  see  in  what  way  I 
was  to  be  benefited  financially  by  opposing 
his  motion. 

The  thought  that  I  was  acting  in  a  disin 
terested  manner  never  entered  a  mind  pres 
ent.  As  I  turned  from  face  to  face,  I  could 
see  that  all  except  Mr.  Brown  and  Mr.  White 
were  puzzling  themselves  just  as  Mr.  Keene 
was.  Mr.  Brown  and  Mr.  White  were  con 
cocting  schemes  to  put  Keene  in  a  hole,  as 
they  would  have  termed  it,  and  they  looked 
upon  me  as  their  ally,  never  taking  time  to 
question  my  motives,  satisfied  with  the  fact 
that,  for  some  reason  of  my  own,  I  would 
help  them.  But  no  one  of  them  all  thought 
that  I  was  not  perfectly  sound  mentally, 
although  1  could  see  that  Mr.  Keene  and 
some  others  intended  to  treat  me  as  an  irre 
sponsible  party  the  next  time  I  was  in  their 
way. 

I  have  related  how  the  assembly  appeared 
to  me  as  an  assembly.  As  individuals  the 
phenomenon  was  strange  indeed;  when  some 
casual  or  accidental  remark  appealed  to  the 
true  man  in  any  one  of  them,  I  could  see  him 
(the  true  man,  I  mean),  always  handsome, 
always  strong,  always  bright;  but  as  the 
lower  impulses  were  in  turn  made  promi- 


66  MOONB  LIGHT. 

nent,  while  the  clothes,  the  hair,  or  the  feat 
ures  were  not  altered,  an  expression  would 
steal  over  his  face  that  was  sometimes 
ludicrous  (or  at  least  so  it  appeared  to  me 
before  I  fully  appreciated  its  meaning), 
sometimes  disgusting  and  revolting,  and 
sometimes  terrible,  but  never  pleasant. 

Mr.  Keene,  for  instance,  would  so  resem 
ble  a  fox  at  times,  that  I  could  scarcely  be 
lieve  him  human;  and  yet  there  were  the 


"A    RED-MOUTHED    WOLF    WITH    WHITE    FANGS." 

same  nose,  eyes,  mouth  and  brow  that  I  had 
always  known,  and  thought  strikingly  hand 
some,  and  even  while  I  was  studying  him  to 
detect  just  what  it  was  that  made  him  look 
like  a  fox,  I  realized  that  there  was  no 
fox  there,  but  a  red-mouthed  wolf,  with 
white  fangs  showing,  ready  to  rend  and  de 
vour  any  of  the  pack  that  was  unfortunate 
enough  to  be  crippled  or  killed;  and,  even 
in  the  midst  of  this  appearance,  I  could 
plainly  see  the  well-known  features  that  I 


MOONBLICHT. 


had  so  long  admired  for  their  manly  beauty. 

Once  or  twice  only  did  I  see  a  trace  of  the 

real  man  in  him,  and 
that  was  so  transient 
that  I  could  scarce 
make  up  my  mind  it. 
really  existed. 

Mr.  White,  in  spite 
of  his  fashionable 
and  expensive  dress, 
his  closely  shaven 
face,  his  immaculate 
linen,  and  his  trained 
smile,  did  not  de 
ceive  me  ;  for,  while 
I  could  see  these 
with  my  natural 
eyes,  and  know  that 
they  existed,  I  could 
also  see  the  true  ex 
pression  of  the  inner 
Mr.  White,  and  it 
was  that  of  a  rat- 
~  tlesnake.  The 
COULD  ALSO  SEE  THE  TRUE  EXPRESSION  rapid  manner  in 


OF   THE    INNER    MR.   WHITE. 


dressed  the  chairman  before  launching-  into 
his    remarks    constantly    reminded    me    of 


68  MOONBLIGHT. 

the  vicious,  dry,  singing  noise  made  by  a 
rattlesnake  before  striking ;  but  when  he 
drew  the  pathetic  picture  of  the  poor  starved 
slaves  of  the  coal-pit,  the  snake  expression 
had  left  him,  and  something  in  his  appear 
ance  brought  to  my  mind  one  of  those 
spiders  hidden  in  a  rose,  whose  swollen 
body  and  thin  legs,  partaking  of  the  color 
of  the  flower,  look  so  like  the  harmless  plant 
that  they  are  unnoticed  by  the  busy  bumble 
bee  until,  just  as  the  latter  thinks  he  has  se 
cured  the  treasures  of  the  rose,  he  feels  the 
poisonous  fangs  of  the  enemy  in  his  head, 
and,  benumbed  by  the  poison,  dies  with 
hardly  a  struggle. 

Ofttimes  these  transformations  seemed 
only  thoughts  flitting  through  my  mind;  then 
again  they  appeared  so  real  that  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  I  retained  sufficient  control  of 
my  feelings  to  prevent  showing  my  abhor 
rence  or  terror  by  exclamations  or  precipi 
tate  retreat.  Such  action  on  my  part  would, 
I  knew,  confirm  the  suspicions  of  my  mental 
derangement  and  put  an  end  to  any  chance 
I  might  have  of  being  useful  to  my  fellow- 
men  in  helping  them  to  avoid  the  pitfalls  I 
now  began  to  see  plainly. 

During  the  meeting,  and  always  while  the 


MOONBLIGHT.  69 

financial  interests  were  under  discussion,  the 
real  man  seldom  showed  himself  in  any  of 
the  assembly  ;  but  he  more  frequently  shone 
through  and  ennobled  the  countenance 
during  the  conversation  upon  subjects  that 
did  not  touch  the  pocket. 

Once,  when  a  question  of  agreeing  upon 
the  form  of  a  lease  that  would  evade  the 
eviction  laws  for  the  protection  of  the  miners 
was  broached,  I  became  so  disgusted  that  it 
was  with  the  greatest  effort  I  could  restrain 
some  exclamation  •  for,  before  me  I  saw,  not 
an  assemblage  of  gentlemen,  but  a  lot  of 
parasitic  insects,  covering  the  body  of  the 
miner,  and  sucking  his  blood.  It  was  only 
an  instant  that  the  impression  lasted,  yet  it 
was  extremely  vivid  while  it  remained,  and 
the  strangest  part  of  it  was  that,  at  the  time, 
I  saw  no  reason  for  such  an  appearance,  but 
I  knew  that  there  must  be  one. 

I  was  so  much  interested  in  what  I  saw 
that  each  day  appeared  all  too  short.  Ten 
days  had  passed.  The  meeting  of  mine  own 
ers,  thanks  to  my  remarks,  broke  up  without 
coming  to  any  decision.  My  business  was 
all  finished,  yet  still  I  lingered  in  the  gloomy, 
straggling  town. 

Not    many  miles  away  lived  the  lady  of 


7O  MOONBLIGHT. 

my  choice,  the  girl  whose  gentle  heart, 
refined  and  educated  mind,  shone  through 
a  face  as  charming  as  any  to  be  found. 
She  was  waiting  for  me  anxiously,  and 
each  day  I  received  a  letter  from  her  in 
which  she  expressed  great  concern  for  my 
health.  There  was  nothing  to  detain  me, 
and  I  had  been  counting  for  months  upon 
this  opportunity  of  visiting  her  at  her  home  ; 
still  I  postponed  my  visit. 

This  may  seem  strange,  but,  since  I  am 
making  a  clean  breast  of  my  experiences,  I 
may  as  well  own  up  to  the  fact  that  I 
dreaded  her  as  much  as  I  did  my  mir 
ror.  Not  that  I  could  see  myself  reflected 
in  her  sweet  eyes  in  any  but  a  compliment 
ary  manner,  but — ashamed  as  I  am  now,  and 
was  then,  of  the  fear — I  was  afraid  to  see 
even  her  as  she  really  was. 

I  was  rich  ;  she  had  but  little.  I  was  es 
teemed  a  "  good  catch  ";  she  was  admired  for 
her  acknowledged  beauty  ;  and  many  a  fel 
low,  in  my  hearing,  had  deplored  the  fact 
that  she  had  not  a  fortune.  That  was  before 
I  met  her  ;  since  then,  they  only  congratu 
lated  me  on  my  luck  in  securing  such  a  prize. 

I  could  recall  several  instances  where 
friends  of  mine  had  become  engaged  to 


MOONBLIGHT.  7 1 

ladies  who,  to  them,  possessed  all  the  vir 
tues  and  beauties  of  the  sex  combined, 
but  to  me,  were  foolish,  simpering  girls, 
or  cold,  selfish,  affected  creatures.  I  won 
dered  what  my  friends  could  see  in  them 
that  was  attractive,  much  less,  lovable;  and 
yet  I  knew  that  they  loved  these  girls  with 
a  true  devotion,  and  were  men  of  good  taste. 
If  these  fellows  were  blinded  by  Cupid,  why 
not  I  ?  If  I  was  blinded,  it  was  such  a  heav 
enly  blindness  that  I  dreaded  the  restora 
tion  of  my  eyesight,  and  feared  as  much  to 
see  my  darling  as  she  appeared  to  others, 
and  might  really  be,  as  I  did  to  see  my  own 
cowardly  face  in  the  glass. 

And  so,  day  by  day  I  postponed  my  visit, 
and  spent  the  time  inspecting  my  mines. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ROF.  FOLLIUM  is  an  old 
friend  of  mine,  a  natural 
ist  and  a  geologist,  and  a 
man  whose  general  know 
ledge  is  extensive.  I 
had  had  many  a  de 
lightful  talk  with  him 
upon  books  and  nature,  and  never 
left  him  without  a  pleasant  im 
pression  and  a  feeling  that  I  had 
gained  some  knowledge  by  his  dis 
course.  Naturally,  in  my  present  state, 
he  came  to  my  mind,  and  I  wondered 
that  I  had  not  thought  of  him  before, 
knowing  that  he  was  in  town,  collecting 
specimens  from  the  mines  to  add  to  his 
already  large  collection,  and  to  illustrate  his 
lectures. 

I  started  off  immediately  in  search  of  the 
professor,  and  found  him,  hammer  in  hand, 
just  starting  upon  an  expedition. 
"  Good  morning,  Professor,"  I  said. 

"  Good  morning,"  he  replied.     "  I've  been 

72 


MOONBLIGHT.  73 

expecting  to  see  you.  Heard  you  were  in 
town.  Heard  you  raised  a  rumpus  at  the 
meeting,  the  other  day.  I  congratulate  you, 
my  boy  !  I  knew  there  was  good  stuff  in 
you  !  "  And  the  professor  smiled  over  the 
rims  of  his  glasses  as  he  extended  his  hand 
cordially  and  grasped  mine. 

"  Professor,  I  come  for  advice.  I  am  in 
trouble.  I  see  wrong  all  around  me,  and  ap 
pear  helpless  to  prevent  it.  What  is  the  cause 
of  all  this?" 

The  professor  looked  sober  a  moment,  and 
shook  his  head  as  he  replied,  "  It  is  man. 
God  never  creates  a  wrong." 

"  Do  you  mean,"  I  said,  "  that  it  is  our 
constant  evasion  or  breaking  of  the  law  that 
is  at  fault  ?  " 

"Law?  "said  the  professor.  "  Law,  my 
boy,  is  never  at  fault.  In  the  nature  of 
things,  it  is  impossible."  Again  he  shook 
his  head,  paused  a  moment,  and  repeated, 
"  Law  ?  Law  is  perfect." 

I  smiled,  and  was  about  to  make  some 
facetious  remark,  when  the  professor  rever 
ently  removed  his  hat,  gazed  around  at  the 
mountains  and  landscape  for  a  moment,  then 
solemnly  repeated,  as  if  to  himself,  "Law? 
I  acknowledge  but  one  law,  and  that  is  the 


74  MOONBLIGHT. 

law  that  I  see  ruling  the  universe,  every 
where  present  and  everywhere  active,  and 
never  broken.  If  I  attempt  to  break  that 
part  of  it  called  gravitation,  and  step  from 
the  roof  of  a  tall  house,  my  mangled  remains 
will  testify  that  the  law  is  unbroken."  Then 
turning  and  addressing  his  remarks  to  me 
he  continued:  "Talk  about  martyrs  to  relig 
ion,  to  principle,  to  honesty  !  Personally,  I 
never  saw  one ;  but  martyrs  to  crime,  to 
filth,  to  greed,  I  see  everywhere.  Go  to  our 
prisons,  go  to  our  hospitals,  our  insane-asy 
lums.  All  are  filled  with  martyrs  to  crime, 
suffering  the  torments  of  hell  for  the  sake — 
and  only  for  the  sake — of  trying  to  break 
the  plain  laws  of  nature. 

"  When  a  botanist  wishes  an  Alpine  plant, 
he  climbs  the  mountain;  and  there,  'mid  the 
glaciers,  or  in  the  track  of  the  avalanche,  he 
finds  the  object  of  his  search,  because  the 
atmosphere  and  the  surroundings  produce 
the  conditions  necessary  for  the  existence  of 
the  plant.  When  he  wishes  an  aquatic  plant, 
he  seeks  the  valley,  and  in  the  lakes,  rivers 
or  marshes  finds  the  object  of  his  search,  be 
cause  the  atmosphere  and  the  surroundings 
produce  it.  When  a  naturalist  wishes  to 
procure  a  certain  kind  of  animal,  he  seeks  that 


MOONBLIGHT. 


75 


spot  where  the  atmosphere  and  the  surround 
ing's  produce  just  the  conditions  necessary 
for  that  animal,  and  there  he  finds  the  ob 
ject  of  his  search.  A  sportsman  would  never 
go  to  the  plains  and  the  valleys  in  search  of 
big-horn  or  chamois,  but  amidst  the  cloud- 
capped  mountains;  because  there  the  atmos- 


IF   MIGHT   IS    RIGHT,  THIS   IS    A   TYPE   OF  THE  MODERN 
SO-CALLED   CHRISTIAN. 

phere  and  the  surroundings  produce  the 
conditions  necessary  for  these  animals'  exist 
ence.  A  detective  would  never  go  to  the 
homes  of  the  workingmen  in  search  of  a 
defaulting  bank  president;  but  to  Wall 
Street,  the  faro-table,  the  race-course,  or  some 
place  where  people  acquire  money  without 


76  MOONBLIGHT. 

work,  because  there  the  atmosphere  and  the 
surroundings  produce  and  suit  defaulters. 

"  Show  me  a  government  founded  and 
conducted  on  the  principles  of  justice  and 
equal  rights  to  all  men,  and  I  will  show  you 
the  highest  type  of  manhood,  intelligence, 
industry  and  prosperity,  because  the  atmos 
phere  and  surroundings  produce  it.  Show 
me  a  tyrannical  and  unjust  government,  and 
I  will  show  you  vice,  squalor,  poverty  and 
crime,  because  the  atmosphere  and  surround 
ings  produce  them.  Now  if,  in  our  own 
country,  we  see  waiters  cringing  and  bow 
ing  for  a  tip;  railroad  employees  and  bag 
gage-men  putting  their  manhood  in  their 
pockets  for  the  sake  of  the  quarter  that  goes 
with  it ;  miners  living  like  starved  vermin 
in  the  blackened  and  begrimed  shanties  of 
Pennsylvania  ;  gentlemen,  so-called,  living 
lives  of  debauchery  ;  people  starving  in  the 
streets  of  the  cities  ;  tramps,  anarchists  and 
Pinkerton  bullies — it  is  because  the  atmos 
phere  and  the  surroundings  produce  them. 
My  dear  fellow,"  said  the  genial  professor, 
again  resuming  his  pleasant  smile,  "  we  are 
ourselves  to  blame  for  all  the  misery  we  see 
around  us.  I  confess  that  my  studies  have 
not  been  directed  in  this  line,  but  I  know, 


MOONB LIGHT.  *  77 

from  my  knowledge  of  Nature,  that  she 
makes  no  mistakes.  There  is  an  ample  feast 
provided  by  her  for  man,  and  this  country 
has  riches  untold  and  incalculable,  which 
need  only  labor  to  bring  them  forth  ;  and 
yet,  owing  to  the  greed  of  a  few  of  us,  and 
the  thoughtlessness  of  many,  we  keep  those 
treasures  locked  up,  while  our  fellow-men 
die  by  the  wayside  for  want  of  the  necessa 
ries  of  life.  I  see  that  you  know  this  much 
yourself.  Then  do  as  I  do  with  all  my  prob 
lems — commence  at  the  beginning.  Com 
mence  with  a  babe.  A  baby  is  born.  It  has 
eyes:  that  means  that  it  was  intended  to 
see.  It  has  ears:  that  means  that  it  was  in 
tended  to  hear.  It  has  a  mouth  to  receive 
nourishment:  that  means  that  nourishment  is 
provided  for  it.  It  has  neither  wings  nor  fins, 
but  feet:  that  means  that  it  must  walk,  and 
is  a  land  animal,  and  must  have  land  to  walk 
on.  All  these  things  will  teach  you  that  it 
has  an  inherent  right  to  light,  air,  water  and 
food  ;  to  procure  the  latter  it  has  hands  to 
transform  the  products  of  the  earth  into  a 
suitable  form  by  labor.  I  have  already  said 
that  Nature  has  provided  untold  wealth  for 
the  babe,  yet  we  will  not  allow  it  to  use  its 
hands,  unless  it  does  so  for  us.  Now,  then, 


78  MOONBLIGHT. 

it  seems  to  me  that  we — meaning  you  and 
me,  and  the  rest  of  humanity — are  the  ones 
to  blame  if  this  or  any  babe  dies  from  want 
and  starvation  ;  and  the  cause  lies  in  us,  not 
in  the  law." 

"  Yes,"  I  replied;  "  the  prima  materia  is  in 
ourselves,  and  there  we  must  look  for  it  if 
we  expect  to  turn  the  cruder  metals  into 
pure  gold." 

"  Oh  ho  !  "  exclaimed  the  little  man,  as  he 
took  off  his  spectacles  to  look  at  me  the  bet 
ter.  "  So,  so  !  You've  been  trying  to  find  the 
solution  in  the  black-book,  eh  ?" 

"  Well,  a  well-balanced  mind  can  find  food 
in  almost  any  book;  and  I  must  say  it  always 
appeared  to  me  that  there  must  be  some  hid 
den  treasures  locked  up  in  those  old  books 
of  so-called  magic." 

"  It  is  not  many  years  ago  that  all  chemists 
and  physicians  were  considered  magicians. 
But  don't  let  yourself  be  led  astray  by  wild 
fancies.  Apply  this  test  to  everything — can 
it  be  demonstrated  ?  If  so,  adopt  it  without 
fear,  for  it  is  the  truth,  and  truth  is  divine. 
If  an  Indian  or  Chinaman  makes  a  statement, 
do  not  disparage  it.  If  it  can  be  demon 
strated,  it  is  true;  if  not,  it  is  false.  If  I 
and  other  college  professors  make  a  state- 


MOONBLIGHT. 


79 


ment,  tell  us  to  demonstrate  it.  If  it  can  be 
demonstrated,  it  is  true  ;  if  not,  it  is  false. 
Believe  nothing  that  is  incapable  of  demon 
stration,  except  the  fact  that  you  exist,  and 
are  a  living  soul.  Apply  this  test,  and  sooner 
or  later,  you  will  find  out  the  cause  of  the 
terrible  wrong,  the  dire  want,  the  squalor, 
the  crime,  the  abrutement  of  our  brothers, 
keeping  their  place  alongside  of  a  hotbed 
growth  of  civilization  of  the  most  brilliant 
type.  And  now,  lad,  I  must  be  off.  This  is 
more  of  a  lecture  on  political  economy  than 
I  ever  remember  delivering  before.  Only  one 
word  more.  If  you  are  going  into  this  thing 
in  earnest  (and  I  believe  you  are),  when 
you  find  the  cause  let  me  know;  and  if  you 
can  demonstrate  it,  as  I  require  my  pupils  to 
do,  with  a  piece  of  chalk  on  the  blackboard, 
you  may  count  me  as  a  convert.  Good-bye  ! " 
And  gathering  up  his  bag  and  hammer  the 
man  of  science  departed. 

After  bidding  good-bye  to  the  professor,  I 
went  directly  to  the  hotel-bar  to  look  for 
Sam,  and  found  him  practising  at  twirling  a 
spoon  in  a  glass  of  water,  though  the  expert 
manner  in  which  he  did  it  seemed  to  require 
no  practice  to  render  it  perfect.' 

"  Good  morning,  Sam,"  was  my  greeting. 


8O  MOONBLIGHT. 

"  Good  morning-,  sir,"  he  replied,  without 
taking  his  eyes  from  the  glass,  or  ceasing  to 
make  the  little  spoon  spin  around  in  a  most 
marvelous  manner. 

"  What  are  you  up  to,  Sam  ? "  I  asked. 

"  Oh,  nothing,  sir;  just  practising  making 
a  cocktail." 

There  were  no  customers  in,  only  two  or 
three  gray-haired  old  men  sitting  in  the  heavy 
wooden-armed  chairs  peculiar  to  country 
bar-rooms;  and  these  old  fellows  were  dream 
ing  the  day  away,  or  reading,  with  their 
eyes  only,  the  daily  papers.  Their  old 
eyes  were  none  too  good,  for  the  frosty- 
headed  men  held  the  papers  close  against 
their  noses  as  they  read;  but  they  were 
all  too  absorbed  in  vacancy  to  heed  me, 
so  I  plunged  right  in  to  what  was  upper 
most  in  my  mind. 

"  Sam,"  I  said,  "  are  you  an  anarchist  ? " 

"No,  sir,"  he  replied  gravely. 

"  Are  you  a  socialist  ?  " 

"  No,  sir,"  he  again  answered,  "  unless  Abe 
Lincoln  and  Thomas  Jefferson  were  socialists; 
and  from  what  I  have  read  in  socialistic 
speeches  I  don't  think  they  were." 

"  What  are  you,  Sam  ?" 

"I,  sir?"     Sam   dropped   the  spoon,   and 


MOONBLIGHT. 


Si 


straightened  himself  up  to  his  full  height. 
"I,  sir,"  he  repeated,  "I  am  an  American!" 

"  Well,  I  know  that  much  from  what  you 
have  already  told  me." 

"You  don't  catch  on,"  said  Sam,  with  a 
face  that  ill  accorded  with  his  slangy  speech. 
"  I  am  an  American  in  principle.  I  believe 


PREJUDICE. 

in  chucking  the  tea  overboard,  widout  tak 
ing  the  trouble  to  work  the  Injun  racket 
either.  I  believe  in  the  inspired" — Sam 
said  "inspired  "  in  a  hesitating  manner,  as  if 
he  was  not  quite  sure  that  it  was  proper  form 
to  use  so  high-sounding  a  word,  but  gaining 
courage  from  my  looks,  he  continued — "  I 


82  MOONBLIGHT. 

believe  in  the  inspired  document  called  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  I  believe,  with 
Abe  Lincoln  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  that 
there  should  be  no  involuntary  servitude  ex 
cept  for  crime" 

"  So  do  I,  Sam,  so  do  I.  But  what  of  that  ?  " 
"  What  of  thet  ?  "  said  the  bar-keeper  fierce 
ly,  his  black  eyebrows  knitting,  as  he  twirled 
his  heavy  moustache  until  it  stood  out  in  two 
spikes  at  each  side  of  his  face,  "  what  of  thet  ? 
Why,  thet  is  as  rank  treason  to-day  as  old 
Paddy  Henry's  talk  before  der  Revolution; 
and  if  things  goon  as  they  are  for  a  mighty 
short  time  longer,  der  duffer  who  says  thet 
will  be  called  an  anarchist  and  an  agitator. 
If  I  could  run  a  talking-mill,  like  some  fel 
lers  I  know,  and  could  fire  off  dictionary  lingo 
off-hand,  I'd  stump  der  United  States  on  my 
own  hook,  and  give  it  to  'em  straight  wher 
ever  I  could  catch  a  crowd  to  talk  to.  Oh, 
these  crawling  and  sneaking  men  that  steal 
our  votes  wid  der  money  they  rob  us  of ! 
These  ornery  curs  thet  rob  us  of  our  wages, 
and  then  dole  it  out  to  us  in  charity !  These 
hypocritical  hirelings  that  desecrate  the  Sab 
bath  every  Sunday  by  preaching  bosh  be 
cause  they  'r  too  cowardly  to  tell  wrhat  the 
Bible  means  !  I  ain't  much  of  a  Christian, 


MOONBLIGHT. 


but  t'other  day  I  thought  I'd  see  if  der 
Bible  had  any  such  bosh  in  it.  I  tell  yer, 
Mister,  I  was  ready  to  throw  up  my  hat  when 
I  read  it,  and  how  these  sniveling  old  sneaks 


"NOW,    MISTER,  WHAT    DOES   THET   MEAN?" 

can  read  thet  book  and  live  is  past  me!  Why, 
they  seem  ter  think  the  Great  Creator  ain't 
got  no  sense  at  all,  and  can  be  fooled  as  easy 
as  a  voter;  and  der  tricks  they  try  ter  fool  him 
wid  are  so  thin  that  a  lad  can  see  t'rough 


84  MOONBLIGHT. 

'em — building  big-  churches  wid  der  money 
stole  from  us,  and  then  a-plastering  them  all 
over  wid  their  own  monograms,  giving  con 
science-money  back  to  us  in  der  shape  of  hos 
pitals,  asylums,  and  libraries,  and  then  a-plas 
tering  their  ornery  names  all  over  them ! 
And  the  fust  thing  I  struck  in  thet  grand 
book  was  '  Take  heed  that  ye  do.  not  your 
alms  before  men  to  be  seen  of  them'  Now, 
mister,  what  does  thet  mean  ?  In  another 
place,  it  told  us  not  to  blow  a  trumpet  before 
giving  alms.  What  does  thet  mean  ?  I  ain't 
superstitious  and  don't  go  much  on  luck  ;  but 
I  just  'lowed  that  book  to  open  fer  itself,  and 
then  would  read  the  fust  thing  that  caught 
my  eye  ;  and  whew  !  how  St.  Jeems  goes  for 
the  rich.  '  Woe  to  ye  !'  he  says — oh,  he  was 
onter  'em — '  Go  to  now,  ye  rich  men,  and 
weep  and  howl,  for  your  miseries  shall  come 
upon  you ! '  Then  he  gives  them  dead  away 
in  another  verse  about  the  wages  they  kept 
back  by  fraud.  Well,  sir,  I  could  hardly  be 
lieve  thet  was  written  so  long  ago,  it  hit  'em 
so  hard  right  now." 

"  Sam,  Sam!"  I  exclaimed, "I  am  afraid  you 
did  not  read  the  book  in  the  right  spirit. 
There  is  nothing,  as  I  remember  it,  vindictive 
in  the  New  Testament." 


MOONBLIGHT.  85 

"Thet's  so,"  said  Sam  solemnly,  "  thet's  so. 
What  it  says  there,  ain't  for  the  sake  of  cuss 
ing  them,  but  as  a  warning,  and  thet's  the 
way  I  took  it  ;  but  I  did  feel  a  bit  vindic 
tive  just  now,  when  I  thought  of  my  old 
landlord  a-howlin'.  But  he,  poor  cuss,  can't 
help  himself  any  more  than  I  can.  You  see, 


"NOW,    MISTER,    WHAT    DOES   THET   MEAN?" 

Mister,  if  he  lets  me  have  der  rent  any  cheaper 
than  market  price  he  is  giving  me  der  diff. 
in  charity.  The  truth  is,  there's  no  such 
thing  as  cheap  rent.  Where  it  looks  cheap, 
it's  'cause  it  won't  bring  any  more,  thet's  all  ; 
and  I  'spect,  if  I  were  a  landlord,  I'd  hev  to 
do  the  same.  Now,  ain't  it  a  blamed  mean 


86  MOONBLIGHT. 

sort  of  law  thet  makes  a  fellow  a  robber  or  a 
robbed  man,  say  ?" 

"Now,  look  here,  Sam.  While  I  can't  help 
but  acknowledge  there  is  something  funda 
mentally  wrong,  I  am  hardly  prepared  to 
own  that  I  am  a  robber  ;  but  I  will  own  up  to 
even  that,  if  you  can  demonstrate  it  to  me. 
Mind  now !  demonstrate  it  like  a  problem 
on  the  blackboard,  and  prove  the  demon 
stration." 

"Thet's  easy,  mister,  mighty  durned  easy. 
What's  thet  you've  got  your  hand  on  ? " 

"  My  watch-chain,"  I  replied,  a  little  puz 
zled.  ' 

"  Where  did  yer  get  it?" 

All  bar-keepers  are  inclined  to  be  im 
pudent,  or,  as  they  themselves  would  term 
it,  "  fresh,"  if  you  allow  them  liberties ;  but 
I  knew  that  Sam  had  some  object  in  view, 
so  I  answered,  "At  the  jeweler's." 

"Where  did  he  get  it?" 

"  At  the  manufacturer's." 

"  Where  did  the  factory  get  the  gold  ?" 

"  Well,  I  suppose  you  want  to  know  where 
the  gold  comes  from,  eh  ?" 

"  Just  so.  From  the  mines,  from  the 
earth,"  said  Sam. 

"  You  are  right." 


WHAT   DOES   THIS   MEAN,    MISTER,    SAY  ? 


88  MOONBLIGHT. 

"  Where  did  yer  hat  come  from  ?  Where 
did  yer  clothes  come  from  ?  " 

"  Hold  on,  Sam.  My  clothes  came  from 
sheep." 

"  Thet's  so  ;  but  where  did  the  stuff  thet 
made  the  wool  grow  come  from  ? " 

"The  grass?  Oh,  that  grew  in  the  pas 
ture,  I  suppose." 

"  Yes;  it  also  came  from  the  earth.  Where 
did  yer  shoes  come  from?  Earth,"  he  said, 
answering  his  own  query.  "  Where  did  yer 
stockings  come  from  ?  Earth,"  he  repeated. 
"  Where  does  yer  food  come  from?  Earth. 
Now,  yer  see,  the  fellow  thet  owns  der  earth 
owns  the  base  of  supplies,  as  we  used  ter  say 
in  der  army  ;  and  if  we  could  catch  on  ter 
der  enemy's  base  of  supplies,  and  hold  it, 
der  enemy  was  ours  widout  any  more  fight 
ing,  'cause,  soon  as  they  used  up  what  they 
had,  they  would  starve,  unless  they  came  ter 
us  as  prisoners  of  war.  Now,  then,  mister,  a 
few  men  —  a  mighty  few,  too  —  own  the 
United  States  and  the  earth, *  the  base  of 

*  FROM  THOMAS  G.  SHEARMAN,  THE  WELL-KNOWN  NEW  YORK 
STATISTICIAN. — "  The  average  annual  income  of  the  richest  hun 
dred  Englishmen  is  about  $450,000;  but  the  average  annual  income 
of  the  richest  hundred  Americans  cannot  be  less  than  $1,200,000, 
and  probably  exceeds  $1,500,000.  The  richest  of  the  Rothschilds, 
and  the  world-renowned  banker,  Baron  Overstone,  each  left  about 


MOONBLIGHT.  89 

supplies  fer  the  hull  of  us.  That's  the  rea 
son  we  are  prisoners  of  war  !  That's  the  rea 
son  we  are  slaves  !  Thet's  the  reason  I  tend 
bar  !  Thet's  the  reason  them  fellers  live  all 
their  lives  under  ground,  piling  up  money 
fer  you  fellers,  see?" 

Well,  I  did  begin  to  have  a  glimmering  of 
light  ;  but  I  was  not  ready  to  give  in  yet ;  so 
I  said  : 

$17,000,000.  Earl  Dudley,  the  owner  of  the  richest  iron  mines, 
left  $20,000,000.  The  Duke  of  Buccleuch  (and  the  Duke  of 
Buccleuch  carries  half  of  Scotland  in  his  pocket)  left  about 
$30,000,000.  The  Marquis  of  Bute  was  worth,  in  1872,  about 
$28,000,000  in  land;  and  he  may  now  be  worth  $40,000,000  in  all. 
The  Duke  of  Norfolk  may  be  worth  $40,000,000,  and  the  Duke  of 
Westminster  perhaps  $50,000,000."  In  the  United  States  he  gives 
a  list  of  70  names  representing  an  aggregate  wealth  of  $2,700,000,- 
ooo,  an  average  of  more  than  $37,500,000  each.  Although  Mr. 
Shearman,  in  making  this  estimate,  did  not  look  for  less  than 
twenty-millionaires,  he  discovered  incidentally  fifty  others  worth 
more  than  $10,000,000  each;  and  he  says  that  a  list  of  ten  persons 
can  be  made  whose  wealth  averages  $100,000,000;  and  another 
list  of  one  hundred  persons,  whose  wealth  averages  $25,000,000. 
No  such  list  can  be  made  up  in  any  other  country.  "  The  richest 
dukes  of  England,"  he  says,  "  fall  below  the  average  wealth  of  a 
dozen  American  citizens;  while  the  greatest  bankers,  merchants, 
and  railway  magnates  of  England  cannot  compare  in  wealth  with 
many  Americans." 

Mr.  Shearman's  conclusion  is  that  25,000  persons  own  one- 
half  the  wealth  of  the  United  States;  and  that  the  whole  wealth 
of  the  country  is  practically  owned  by  250,000  persons,  or  one  in 
sixty  of  the  adult  male  population;  and  he  predicts,  from  the 
rapid  recent  concentration  of  wealth,  that,  under  present  condi 
tions,  50,000  persons  will  practically  own  all  the  wealth  of  the 
country  in  thirty  years — or  less  than  one  in  500  of  the  adult  male 
population. 


9o 


MOONBLIGHT. 


11  Sam,  why  not  buy  some  property,  and 

be  a  landlord  yourself  ?  " 

"  What's  der  matter  wid  yer  giving  it  to 

me  ?  "  said  Sam,  with  a  grin.     "  No,"  he  add- 

ed,  "you  can 
keep  yer  land. 
Yer  ain't  a  bad 
one.  Der  boys 
all  know  about 
der  laying  out 
yer  give  them 
fellows  at  der 
meeting,  and  if 
you  was  to  try 
to  be  sociable 
wid  'em  now, 
they  wouldn't  be 
so  cold  like." 

"  I  don't  drink 
now,  and  would 
not  ask  them  to," 
I  answered. 
"Smoke?"  ask 


ONE    OF   THE   CUSTOMERS. 


ed  Sam. 

"  No,  nor  smoke  either.  I  never  thought 
of  it  before;  but  the  fact  is,  Sam,  I  have 
not  smoked  since  the  night  you  called 
on  me,  have  had  no  desire  to,  and  have 


MOONBLIGHT.  g  [ 

been  so  busy  that  I  have  not  thought 
of  it." 

Sam  evidently  thought  it  not  worth  while 
to  answer  my  last  question,  and  I  did  not 
repeat  it ;  but  said,  as  I  saw  some  men 
crossing  the  street,  evidently  making  for  the 
bar  : 

"  Sam,  how  are  we  to  remedy  all  this  ? 
Have  you  ever  thought  it  out  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Sam.  "  Thet  is,  another  feller 
thought  it  out  for  me,  and  I  read  it  onct  in  a 
paper  that  was  a-pitching  inter  him,  little 
thinking  that  by  printing  what  he  said  fer 
der  purpose  of  knocking  der  stuffing  out  of 
it,  it  was  really  preaching  fer  der  feller, 
'cause  it  caught  me  right  off.  l  What  a 
durned  fool  I  am  ! '  I  said  ter  my  woman. 
Well,  my  woman  didn't  say  nothing  ;  maybe 
she  agreed  wid  my  remark.  So  I  said  it  over 
again.  '  Yer  needn't  be  telling  der  children 
if  yer  be,'  she  said.  *  Well,'  said  I,  'here  is 
a  feller  thet  shows  me  something  thet  I've 
been  trying  ter  find  out  fer  ten  year,  and  it's 
simple  as  falling  off  a  log  :  If  any  one  wants 
to  use  the  earth,  let  him  pay  the  rest  for  the 
privilege  at  market  rate.  No  more  fining  a 
feller,  like  a  drunkard  or  a  criminal,  fer 
building  a  house  or  painting  his  barn  or  be- 


MOONBLIGffT. 


ing  industrious.  Jest  charge  him  fer  der 
rent  of  der  land  he  uses,  and  thet's  all.  No 
more  blue-coated  pirates  ploughing  around 
der  coast,  wid  der  new-fangled  piratical  flag 
— der  American  flag  wid  der  stripes  running 
der  wrong  way  !  No  more  locking  up  all  der 

coal,  all  der  oil, 
all  der  gold,  all 
der  iron,  all  der 
timber,  thet 
God  Almighty 
gave  ter  us  all  ; 
but  let  any  fel 
ler  thet  wants 
ter  pay  der  rest 
for  der  privilege, 
use  jest  as  much 
as  he  wants  !  I 
warn't  such  a 
fool  as  it  seem- 

"  A   FORGOTTEN   WELL."  ed      at       fuSt,    but 

thet   fellow  had 

a  big  head !  You  bet  your  high  old  muckey 
muck  he's  a  daisy !  He  is  in  it  wid  both  feet, 
he  is.  Can't  fool  him.  No  siree,  bob  horse  fly! 
Say,  mister,  he's  der  man  can  explain  these 
things  jest  as  plain  as  der  nose  on  yer  face. 
Own  the  land  ?  How  in  thunder  can  a  man 


MOONBLIGHT.  93 

own  land  ?  It  was  there  before  he  was  born, 
it  will  be  there  thousands  of  years  after  he 
has  gone,  see  ?  Own  nothing" !  I  own  that 
thing  I  showed  yer  t'other  night,  'cause  I 
made  it  out  of  der  product  of  der  earth;  and 
to  prove  my  ownership,  I  can  destroy  it,  and 
no  feller  can  say  a  word  or  stop  me,  see  ? 
Like  to  see  yer  destroy  yer  town  lot.  Guess 
before  yer  got  ter  China,  you'd  throw  up  der 
job  ;  and  even  if  yer  did  go  through  ter 
China,  der  space  would  be  there  all  der  same, 
and  yer  could  sell  that  space.  Air,  thet's  all; 
but  it  could  be  bridged  over  and  used,  and 
would  bring  big  money  just  on  account  of 
its  being  in  a  town  where  space  is  wanted, 
and  lots  of  people  would  want  to  use  it.  Sell 
air?  Yes;  but  yer  don't  own  it;  yer  can't 
dig  thet  away,  see?  Gosh!  wouldn't  some- 
feller  like  ter  cage  up  der  air,  and  put  a  gas- 
meter  on  our  lungs,  and  charge  us  so  much  a 
cubic-foot  fer  air;  and  if  we  kicked  about  der 
price,  they  would  say,  'Yer  needn't  be  so 
extravagant.  Be  economical  wid  der  air : 
it's  ours,  and  we  must  be  paid  for  it,  see  ?' 
Why,  they's  got  a  meter  in  my  uncle's  cellar 
in  the  city  that  gives  away  every  drop  of 
water  he  uses.  Can't  take  a  drink  widout 
being  charged,  and  if  he  takes  a  bath  he's 


94  MOONBLIGHT. 

got  to  be  rich.  His  wife  takes  in  washing, 
and  thet  water  costs  her  twenty-two  dollars 
every  six  months.  I  say,  Free  Land,  Free 
Water,  and  Free  Labor,  them's  my  senti 
ments  ! " 

The  customers  had  crossed  the  street,  en 
tered  the  bar,  and  were  standing  waiting  to 
be  served,  unnoticed  by  Sam.  At  the  close 
of  his  remarks  they  applauded  him  and  called 
for  their  accustomed  stimulant;  and  I  left 
them  as  they  were  pouring  the  fiery  stuff 
down  their  poor  throats. 


«^y 


CHAPTER  V. 


HE  professor  came 
round  to  the  hotel  that 
night  highly  elated 
with  the  success  of  his 
day's  search  for  fossils 
and  minerals.  All  was 
fish  that  came  to  his 
net — animal,  mineral, 
plant,  or  fossil — none 
were  strangers  to  him,  and  all  were  of  inter 
est  ;  and,  better  still,  he  possessed  the  rare 
faculty  of  making  them  interesting  to  others. 
He  could  sit  down  by  the  roadside  and  talk 
for  an  hour  over  some  bit  of  stone,  leaf  or 
plant;  and  without  using  one  technical  term, 
in  every-day  language,  could  tell  me  more 
than  I  can  learn  in  a  week's  reading;  and, 
what  is  more  to  the  purpose,  I  could  not  only 
understand  him,  but  remember  what  he  told 
me.  He  had  the  profoundest  contempt  for 
collectors  of  birds'  eggs  and  birds' skins,  as  a 
rule,  because,  as  he  expressed  it,  their  collec 
tions  were  made  like  a  school-boy's  collec- 

95 


96  MO  ONBLIGH  7 '. 

tion  of  stamps,  the  owner  having  all  the 
names  pat.  and  each  specimen  labeled  and 
numbered,  but  there  it  ended.  The  collec 
tion  was  of  no  use  to  the  owner  or  any  one 
else,  except  for  the  money  value  it  might 
possess. 

"  Now,"  said  the  professor,  "  not  to  use  is 
to  lose.    Remember  that,  my  boy,  and  if  you 


"THE   MOON    IS   ALL   RIGHT." 

get  a  good  idea  from  any  of  your  old  books, 
write  it  down,  repeat  it  to  the  first  man  that 
you  can  make  listen  to  you  ;  nab  a  small 
boy,  your  sister,  mother,  brother,  servant, 
car-driver  or  policeman,  and  give  him  or  her 
your  idea.  They  may  not  appreciate  it,  may 
not  be  interested  in  it,  may  not  understand 


MOONBLIGHT. 


97 


By  repeating  it  to  them, 
By  writing  it  down  and 


it.  What  of  that  ? 
you  are  using  it. 
sending  it  to  the 
publisher  or  a 
friend,  you  are 
using  it ;  by  us 
ing  it  you  are 
making  it  your 
own,  and  no  one 
can  take  it  from 
you.  You  have 
added  to  your 
stock,  you  have 
added  to  your 
education,  you 
have  added  to 
your  ability  for 
use  in  this 
world  ;  and  the 
man  who  pre-/p 
sumes  to  live 
on  this  grand 
planet,  and  does 
not  endeavor  to 
be  of  use,  prac- 
tically  denies 
the  existence  of  a  God,  practically  denies 
that  he  owes  anything  to  mankind — in  fact, 


PROF.    FOLLIUM. 


98  MOONBLIGHT. 

by  so  living1,  insolently  and  boldly  affirms 
that  he  is  above  God  and  man. 

"  Now,  these  collectors  are  not  so  bad  as 
that ;  they  are  of  some  use  ;  their  collections, 
sooner  or  later,  are  sold,  and  go  to  enrich 
some  museum ;  but  they  have  not  repaid  the 
collector  for  his  work  because  he  was  satis 
fied  with  the  selfish  pleasure  of  possessing  a 
better  or  more  complete  collection  than  some 
other  felltfw,  and  with  knowing  the  names 
and  being  able  to  repeat  them  like  a  parrot. 
If  you  collect  books,  read  them;  and  when 
you  leave  this  world,  see  to  it  that  your  col 
lection  goes  to  some  library,  where  the  books 
belong,  and  not  to  heirs,  whose  only  interest 
is  in  the  money  your  bequest  will  bring  at  an 
auction.  Never  buy  a  book  because  it  is 
rare.  You  are  not  a  dealer  ;  buy  only  such 
books  as  are  of  use  to  you  in  your  particular 
line  of  thought  or  are  necessary  to  perfect 
your  collection,  for  its  ultimate  place  on  the 
shelves  of  some  public  institution,  where 
others  interested  in  the  same  line  of  study 
may  find  them. 

"  Hello  !  Where  did  you  get  this  ?  "  said 
the  professor,  as  his  eyes  lighted  upon  the 
bookshelf,  and  he  made  a  dive  for  an  old 
book  on  botany.  "  Well,  here  is  a  prize," 


MOONBLTGHT.  99 

said  he,  as  he  opened  the  book.  "I  have 
tried  all  the  book-stalls  in  London  in  search 
of  this  volume  and  have  never  met  with  it 
before";  and  after  rubbing  his  glasses  with 
his  silk  handkerchief,  the  professor  replaced 
them  on  his  nose,  and  without  waiting  for  a 
reply,  commenced  to  pore  over  the  volume, 
and  was  soon  lost  to  all  surroundings. 

This  was  not  exactly  what  I  expected.  I 
wanted  to  talk.  I  wanted  him  to  combat  the 
ideas  I  had  just  received  from  Sam  ;  but  it 
must  have  been  an  hour  before  the  little  man 
looked  up,  and  the  expression  of  humility 
and  chagrin  that  spread  over  his  face  was 
comical,  as  he  stammered  out  an  apology  for 
forgetting  my  presence  and  where  he  was. 
He  closed  the  book,  looked  it  over,  the  brass- 
clasp  binding  and  all,  carefully  replaced  it 
on  the  shelf,  and  said: 

"  Well,  what  do  you  intend  to  do  ?  Go 
into  tenement-house  reform  ?  Start  a  Coo 
per's  Institute  ?  Build  a  hospital,  or  run  for 
Congress  ?  There  is  a  great  field  in  the  ten 
ement-house — sanitary  plumbing,  more  light, 
parks,  water  on  each  floor,  house  rules,  and 
all  that  sort  of  thing,  you  know." 

"  Yes,"  I  replied,  "  I've  thought  of  that,  but 
what  then  ?  My  tenement-house  would  be 


I OO  MOONBLIGHT. 

a  flat,  and  would  be  occupied  by  the  middle 
classes,  so-called,  because  the  rents  would  be 
too  high  for  the  people  for  whom  it  was 
built." 

"  True  enough,",  replied  he,  "  but  why 
charge  such  high  rent  ?  " 

"  Because  I  would  be  compelled  to.  There 
is  a  market  value  for  such  flats,  and  the  price 
is  fixed.  Should  I  lower  it,  I  would  in  real 
ity  be  giving  in  alms  the  difference  between 
my  charge  and  the  market  value,  and  those 
who  accept  alms  cannot  do  so  without  injury 
to  their  manhood  and  independence.  I 
would  either  fill  my  house  with  what  are 
popularly  known  as  dead-beats,  or  I  would 
make  paupers  of  men,  who  before,  though 
poor,  were  self-sustaining." 

"  My  dear  fellow,"  laughed  the  professor, 
"  you  have  made  wonderful  progress  in  a 
very  short  time  !  " 

"For  which,  in  a  great  measure,  I  am  in 
debted  to  a  bar-keeper,"  I  replied,  at  the  same 
time  remembering  Sam's  cutting  remarks 
about  the  conscience-money  and  the  hospi 
tals  and  public  institutions.  I  related  these 
remarks  to  the  professor,  and  he  was  might 
ily  pleased,  and  laughed  until  the  tears 
dimmed  his  glasses. 


MOONBLIGHT.  I O I 

"  Well,  run  your  mines  on  the  co-operative 
plan,  then,"  he  said,  as  soon  as  he  regained 
his  composure. 

"No,  I  cannot  do  that  either;  because  by 
so  doing  I  would  only  be  enriching-  a  com 
paratively  few  miners  and  doing  nothing  to 
change  the  system.  The  immediate  effect 
would  be  to  make  a  position  in  my  mines 
worth  so  much  premium,  and  the  needy 
would  all  sell  out  to  get  ready  money  for 
present  necessities  ;  while  the  ultimate  end 
would  be  that  the  benefit  would  fall  upon 
those  among  the  miners  (or  those  who 
might  have  become  miners)  who  were  already 
comparatively  well  off.  Possibly  I  would 
have  an  efficient  set  of  workmen,  but  it 
would  be  practically  only  enlarging  a  com 
pany  by  taking  in  so  many  more  stockhold 
ers,  and  the  principle  would  remain  the 
same.  The  poor  degraded  slaves  I  see  about 
me  would  still  be  poor  degraded  slaves. 
Neither  could  I  sell  my  mines  or  give  them 
away,  because  that  would  be  merely  shirk 
ing  a  responsibility — an  attempt  to  shove  it 
upon  some  one  else's  shoulders.  I  have 
thought  of  all  that." 

"  I  see  you  have,  my  boy,  and  thought  of 
it  more  deeply  than  I  ever  did,  I  must  ac- 


I O2  MOONBLIGHT. 

knowledge.  Now,  I  can  plainly  see  that  a 
fellow  of  your  pluck  will  not  try  to  shirk 
either  a  fight  or  a  responsibility,  and  you 
have  both  ahead  of  you,  for  all  other  mine 
owners  will  bitterly  oppose  any  suggestions 
from  you,  and  fiercely  resent  any  reforms 
you  may  choose  to  introduce  in  your  own 
mines.  Not  only  that,  but  they  will  have  the 
public  on  their  side — the  great,  unthinking 
booby  called  the  public,  that  is  plundered, 
robbed,  insulted,  and  imposed  upon  in  a  man 
ner  that  any  individual  fragment  of  it  in  the 
form  of  a  man  would  resent  instantly  if  the 
insult  or  imposition  were  put  upon  him  per 
sonally  as  separated  from  the  rest.  Why,  it 
is  amusing  to  see  the  public  in  New  York 
driven  about  like  cattle  by  creatures  living 
upon  its  own  permission.  I  mean  the  corpo 
rations  whose  charters  are  granted  by  the 
public,  whose  money  comes  from  the  public, 
whose  valuable  franchises  are  rendered  val 
uable  by  the  public,  but  who,  one  and  all,  by 
their  every  act,  word,  and  speech,  claim  to 
own  the  public  whose  servants  they  ought 
and  were  originally  intended  to  be.  They 
make  rules  of  their  own,  in  defiance  of  the 
comforts  or  rights  of  the  public,  and  enforce 
them  as  laws,  and  the  great,  stupid  public 


MOONBLIGHT.  1 03 

accepts  them  as  such.  I  tell  you,  a  man 
cannot  travel  from  the  Battery  to  Harlem 
without  having  every  particle  of  manhood 
in  him  trampled  upon.  There,  I've  said 
what  has  been  on  my  mind  for  a  long 
time,  and  in  repeating  it,  according  to  my 
own  precepts,  have  made  it  my  own,  I 
suppose,"  said  the  professor. 

Well,  it  was  my  turn  to  laugh  then.  I 
could  see,  without  the  aid  of  my  spiritual 
eyes,  that  the  professor  had  been  badly  used 
in  the  great  city ;  but  I  seldom  saw  anything 
else  than  the  real  man  in  my  learned  friend; 
and,  as  was  the  case  with  Sam,  I  never 
found  it  necessary  to  use  my  newly  acquired 
powers  to  read  him  as  I  would  a  book,  be 
cause  both  men  were  strictly  honest  and 
made  no  attempt  to  conceal  their  real  selves, 
which  were  so  plainly  discernible  in  their 
speech  and  looks. 

There  was  a  knock  at  my  door,  and 
"  Humpy,"  or  Nate  as  I  now  called  him,  an 
swered  my  summons  to  come  in. 

"Your  superintendent  is  down  stairs,  sir, 
and  wishes  to  see  you  immediately." 

"  Send  him  up,  Nate,"  said  I.  "  No,  pro 
fessor,  don't  leave;  nothing  private — some 
thing  in  regard  to  mines,"  I  continued  as  I 


104 


MOONBLIGHT. 


saw  my  friend  knocking  the  ashes  from  his 
pipe,  preparatory   to   leaving. 

"  Come  right  in, 
Clint,"  I  called,  as  I 
heard  my  mine  super- 
intendent's  heavy 
tread  outside.  "Come 
in.  Mr.  Butts,  Pro 
fessor  Follium." 

The  two  men  shook 
hands,   and,  as    they 
stood  there,  the  con 
trast  was  striking;  the 
round,     intelligent 
head  of  the  professor 
bearing  the  marks  of 
refinement,    culture 
and    good   nature  in 
every  curved  line 
from   the  top  of  his 
round  bald  head  to 
the  bottom  of   his 
round    bald    chin, 
in    direct    contrast 
to  my  superintend 
ent's  not  less  intel 
ligent  but  less  refined  appearance. 

Clint  Butts  was  a  large,  square  man,  with 


CLINT  BUTTS,  MY  SUPERINTENDENT. 


MOONBLIGHT.  1 05 

a  broad,  square  forehead,  a  heavy,  square 
jaw;  his  brows  were  two  broad,  straight,  dark 
lines  separated  by  twin  vertical  wrinkles; 
his  gray  eyes  were  deep-set,  with  long 
black  lashes,  his  nose  was  very  regular  and 
straight,  and  his  dark,  closely  cropped  mus 
tache  ran  in  almost  a  horizontal  line  beneath 
it.  As  if  he  was  conscious  of  nature's  at 
tempt  in  the  rectangular  plan  and  had  a  de 
sire  to  help  her  out,  Clint  wore  a  square-cut, 
double-breasted  sack  coat  and  heavy-soled, 
square-toed  shoes.  Immense  reserve  force 
both  of  mind  and  body,  was  the  impression 
Clint  Butts  made  upon  any  one  whom  he 
met.  An  iron  will  and  great  physical  endur 
ance  were  expressed  in  every  line  of  his  face 
and  figure.  Honesty  with  him  was  a  matter 
of  course  ;  he  could  not  round  off  his  sharp 
corners  with  any  sort  of  deception,  and  this 
trait  made  him  both  dreaded  and  respected 
by  miner  and  mine  owner.  If  Clint  was 
asked  for  an  opinion,  he  gave  it  without  fear 
or  favor;  if  ordered  by  his  employer  to  do 
anything,  he  did  it  without  words,  so  when 
he  turned  to  me  after  greeting  the  professor 
I  knew  I  would  soon  be  master  of  the 
facts,  whatever  they  were,  that  caused  his 
visit. 


I O6  MO  OAT  BLIGHT. 

"Sit  down,  Clint,  and  tell  me  what's 
up.  Anything-  wrong  at  the  mines  ? "  I  in 
quired. 

"  There  is  going  to  be  a  strike  for  an  ad 
vance  in  wages." 

"Humph!  What  do  the  men  get  now?"  I 
asked.  "  You  know,"  I  explained,  feeling 
ashamed  of  my  ignorance,  "  I  never  did 
understand  the  wage  system;  fact  is,  I 
never  bothered  myself  about  these  mat 
ters  of  detail  until  the  conference  was 
called,  and  I  am  not  yet  up  on  all  the 
points  ;  but  I  have  an  impression  that  the 
men  make  about  two  dollars  a  day,  when 
they  work." 

"That  seems  to  be  the  general  impression 
of  the  public;  but  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  the 
men  seldom,  if  ever,  make  such  a  sum.  The 
wage  system  in  the  anthracite-coal  region  is 
a  complicated  affair,  and  each  complication 
deprives  the  miner  of  more  or  less  money. 
With  the  '  sliding  scale/  as  it  is  sometimes 
called,  or  'basis  system/  as  we  call  it, 
the  wages  of  the  miner  fluctuate  with  the 
price  of  coal.  We  call  it  the  basis  sys 
tem  because  the  market  price  of  coal  is 
the  basis  upon  which  the  miner's  wages 
are  paid." 


MOONBLIGHT.  107 

"  Mr.  Butts,  this  is  very  interesting,"  said 
the  professor,  beaming  through  his  glasses  ; 
"  and  it  strikes  me  as  not  an  unwise  arrange 
ment,  if  I  understand  aright.  When  there 
is  a  rise  in  coal,  there  is  a  corresponding 
rise  in  the  wages  of  the  miners ;  and  if 
there  should  be  a  sudden  drop  in  the  mar 
ket  price  of  coal,  the  corresponding  drop 
in  the  wages  paid  the  men  would  in  a 
measure  prevent  the  owners  from  a  great 
loss  which,  being  unlocked  for,  might  be 
disastrous." 

"True,"  replied  Clint;  "but  so  many 
abuses  have  been  forced  in  the  system 
that  the  basis  system  has  become  one  of 
the  most  oppressive  tools  in  the  hands  of 
owners." 

"  How  is  that,  Clint  ?  What  are  the  abuses  ? 
Come,  let  us  have  the  whole  story,"  said 
I,  as  I  handed  Clint  a  pipe  and  a  pouch 
of  tobacco.  The  pipe  he  declined  but  ac 
cepted  the  proffered  tobacco,  and  filled  his 
own  odd-looking  French  clay  pipe.  In 
lighting  the  tobacco  he  made  that  loud 
smacking  noise  with  his  lips,  peculiar  to 
Irishmen. 

"The  professor  here  knows  something  of 
the  manner  in  which  coal  is  prepared  for  the 


108  MOONBLIGHT. 

market,"  continued  Clint,  "  for  I  saw  him  ex 
amining  our  breakers.  He  saw  how  the 
coal  was  crushed  between  two  big-  revolving 
cylinders,  toothed  with  steel,  and  afterward 
saw  how  the  coal  was  run  through  screens, 
where  it  was  assorted  into  the  several  sizes 
from  *  broken '  pieces,  which  are  as  large  as 
an  ordinary  tea-cup,  to  what  is  called  '  buck 
wheat,'  which  is,  in  plain  language,  dirt.  Then 
we  have  '  lump '  coal,  which  comes  a  little 
larger  than  '  broken.'  Now  you  see,  gentle 
men,"  continued  Clint,  and  he  held  the  pipe 
between  his  fingers  and  blew  a  cloud  of 
smoke  before  the  sentence,  "  when  the  basis 
sytem  was  first  established  there  were  but 
six  grades  of  coal  sold  in  the  market,  name 
ly,  lump,  steamboat,  broken,  egg,  stove 
and  chestnut.  These  were  all  high-priced 
grades—" 

"  What's  that  got  to  do  with  the  abuses  ? " 
I  said  a  little  impatiently  ;  for  these  details 
were  still  rather  dry  to  me  in  spite  of  my 
efforts  to  understand  them  all. 

''Just  this,"  replied  Clint:  "Lately  two 
lower  grades  of  coal  have  been  added  to 
the  list  and  one  higher  grade,  steamboat, 
dropped.  Now,  according  to  the  basis,  min 
ers  in  this  anthracite-coal  district  receive 


MOONBLIGHT.  IOQ 

cents  for  cutting  and  loading  a  ton  of 
coal  when  the  market  price  is  $5.  Out  of 
this  42^  cents  they  must  pay  '  help,'  and  pay 
a  profit  to  the  mine  owner  at  the  company's 
store,  on  the  powder,  oil,  fuse  and  all  the 
other  incidental  expenses  of  a  miner's  work, 
besides  the  dockage — " 

"  What  is  the  dockage  ?"  I  inquired. 

"Deductions  made  by -the  docking  boss 
for  slate,  light  loading,  or  any  other  cause 
that  may  suggest  itself  to  him  ;  and,  as  his 
living  depends  upon  what  he  knocks  off  the 
miners'  earnings,  you  may  be  sure  he  will 
not  fail  to  find  a  cause  for  dockage — and  this 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  men  mine 
thirteen  extra  cubic  feet  to  the  ton  to  cover 
these  very  deficiencies. 

"  Coal  has  not  been  quoted  as  high  as  $5 
since  1875.  This  would  make  the  consumers 
who  pay  $6  and  $6.25  per  ton  open  their 
eyes,  but  it  is  true,  and  this  is  the  way  it  is 
arranged.  As  I  said  before,  at  the  start  of 
the  basis  system  there  were  but  six  grades 
of  coal,  all  high-priced  ones.  Now  there  are 
seven,  and  two  of  them  are  low-priced 
grades.  If  you  will  just  run  over  this 
table,"  said  Clint,  "  you  will  see  what  I 


mean." 


I  I  O  MOONBLIGHT. 

THE    TABLE. 

1  Lump  Coal $6.00  Lump $6.00 

2  Steamboat 5.00  Broken 5.00 

3  Broken 5-°o  Egg 5.50 

4  Egg 5.50  Stove 5.00 

5  Stove 5.00  Chestnut 3.50 

6  Chestnut 3-5°  Pea,  new  grade 2.00 

Buckwheat,  newgrade  1.25 

6  |  30.00 

7  I  28.25 

Average     5.00  

*Average     4.03* 

*  EXTRACT  FROM  LETTER  TO  NEW  YORK  PAPER  BY  T.  V.  POWDERLY. 

When  it  is  published  that  an  anthracite-coal  miner  receives  so 
much  money  for  one  day's  work,  it  causes  men,  in  New  York  as 
well  as  in  Wisconsin,  to  believe  that  he  ought  not  to  grumble  at 
short  time  now  and  then.  But  his  expenses  are  never  set  forth, 
in  fact  I  have  never  seen  a  reference  to  them  in  print;  everything 
goes  to  show  that  he  draws  from  $5  to  $8  a  day.  Let  us  say  that 
a  full  month  consists  of  twenty-five  days.  The  miner  gets  out 
seven  cars  a  day,  and  at  the  end  of  the  month  his  account  will 
stand  this  way: 

25  full  days — 175  cars $153.12 

Out  of  which  he  pays: 

Laborer  at  the  rate  of  $2. 10  a  day $52. 50 

Powder  at  $3  a  keg 36.00 

Dockage  for  month 9.62 

Smithing  for  month .65 

Oil  for  lamp 2.00 

Cotton  for  lampwick .20 

Squibs  to  ignite  powder .30 

Waterproof  paper 25 

Soap  for  mining  purposes .05 

Wear  and  tear  on  tools  for  month .75 

Total  expenses  for  month  ...    $102.32 

Which  deduct  from $153.12 


Leaves  him  as  result  of  month's  toil $50.80 

From  the  foregoing  statement  it  will  be  seen  that  with  a  full 


MOONBL1GHT.  I  I  I 

"  "  Thus  you  see  how  the  wages  are  reduced 
by  forcing  the  miners  to  accept  two  new 
grades  of  coal ;  and,  mind  you,  gentlemen, 
these  last  two  grades  are  made  from  the  dirt 
and  waste  that  the  miner  has  already  been 
docked  for.  He  is  a  fortunate  miner  who  can 
clear  a  dollar  a  day;  and  even  he  must  spend 
that  dollar  at  the  company's  store  and  in  rent 
to  the  company  for  the  house  he  lives  in,  and 
thus  it  all  goes  back  to  the  mine  owner." 

month's  work  the  miner  will  have  over  and  above  his  expenses 
but  $50.80.  The  Hampton  is  an  ordinary  mine  and  is  operated  by 
the  D.,  L.  and  W.  Company.  The  best  mine,  so  miners  tell  me, 
owned  by  that  Company,  is  the  Central.  Both  Hampton  and 
Central  shafts  are  in  the  limits  of  Scranton,  on  what  is  called  the 
Hyde  Park  side  of  the  city.  In  the  Central  the  miner  is  paid  at 
the  rate  of  $1.07^  per  car,  gets  out  six  cars  for  a  day's  work  when 
mining  bottom  coal  and  eight  cars  when  mining  top  coal.  Top 
coal  is  easiest  to  mine. 

ANOTHER   BALANCE   SHEET. 

Computing  the  earnings  of  the  miner  at  bottom  coal  prices  it 
will  leave  him  but  from  $8  to  $10  more  in  the  month  than  is  paid  in 
the  other  mine.  Giving  the  miner  his  full  month's  wages  at  top  coal 
prices,  or  at  the  rate  of  eight  cars  a  day,  and  he  will  receive  $8.60 
per  day  and  a  total  of  $215  for  the  month.  Out  of  this  he  pays: 

For  laborer $60.00 

Powder 20.00 

Dockage 9.00 

Oil  for  lamp 2.00 

Other  expenses  same  as  in  other  mine 2.25 


Total $93.25 


Leaving  a  balance  for  the  miner  of $121.75 

If  a  miner  were  allowed  to  work  top-coal  during  the  month,  that 


I  I  2  MOONB LIGHT. 

"  Pitch  right  in,  Clint ;  don't  mind  me.  I 
am  getting  used  to  the  position  of  slave- 
driver  and  robber,  and  don't  mind  it,  I  assure 
you  ;  but  I  want  facts  now.  Tell  us  what 
some  one  miner  you  know  makes  a  day,"  I 
interrupted. 

"  There  is  Nathaniel  James,"  answered 
Clint.  "  For  the  last  two  weeks'  work  he 
received  $8.50,  or  $4.25  per  week.  This 

is  the  best  that  could  be  done  in  the  anthracite  mines.  The  miner 
works  bottom  coal  for  a  distance  and  then  takes  down  the  top-coal, 
so  it  will  be  seen  that  he  must  take  the  chance  when  it  comes  to 
him,  and  that  chance  is  given  to  but  a  very  few.  I  have  not  heard 
of  a  case  in  which  such  a  month's  work  was  performed,  and  for 
years  no  miner  has  made  full  time.  The  best  average  earnings 
of  this  region  for  the  past  year  will  not  exceed  $30  per  month.  I 
have  placed  the  expenses  for  powder,  dockage,  wear  and  tear  and 
supplies  at  the  lowest  figure. 

A    COMMON   OCCURRENCE. 

Up  to  to-day,  Feb.  27th,  the  Sloan  shaft  has  worked  but  two 
days.  The  miner,  after  paying  his  laborer  and  other  expenses,  will 
take  home  to  his  family  not  more  than  $6  for  this  month,  unless  the 
last  day  of  the  month  is  worked.  The  best  time  made  in  any  of 
the  mines  around  here  this  month  will  not  exceed  six  days, 
and  the  miner  will  not  make  over  $14  for  the  month.  For  the 
last  year  and  a  half  times  have  been  poor,  some  months  almost 
as  bad  as  this  and  others  but  a  trifle  better. 

WHAT  A  PICTURE  OF  POVERTY  ! 

Imagine  what  the  fare  must  be  of  a  family  that  is  depending 
on  $6  a  month.  Economists,  those  who  advise  workingmen  to 
practise  economy,  should  do  as  I  did  last  Wednesday  evening — 
eat  supper  with  a  miner  who  had  nothing  on  the  table  for  his  fam 
ily  of  seven  but  cornmeal  mush  and  water. 


MOONBLIGHT.  \  \  3 

man  is  a  steady,  industrious  man  and  one  of 
the  most  practical  miners  of  the  middle  coal 
fields.  Nate  never  tastes  a  drop  of  liquor 
and  never  loses  a  day's  work  except  for  sick 
ness,  or  some  such  urgent  cause.  He  is  the 
father  of  the  little  humpback  boot-black  at 
the  hotel,  and  *  Humpy '  owes  his  name  and 
hump  to  an  accident  in  the  mines  when  he 
was  almost  an  infant.  Nate  told  me  the 
other  day  that  his  earnings,  not  counting 
Humpy's,  amounted  to  just  15  cents  a  day, 
divided  per  capita  among  his  family.  Now 
here  is  a  report,"  continued  Clint,  taking  a 
pamphlet  from  his  pocket,  "  showing  the  cost 
of  maintaining  paupers  at  the  present  time  to 
be  28  cents  per  day  for  each  pauper  ;  that  is, 
your  best  miners'  families  are  living  on  just 
a  little  over  half  what  it  costs  the  county 
to  keep  a  pauper  !  " 

"  Lord  !  "  said  the  professor,  "  I  knew  things 
were  bad,  yes,  extremely  bad  ;  but  goodness 
me !  I  had  no  idea  they  were  so  horribly  bad 
as  your  figures  make  them  out  to  be,  Mr. 
Butts.  It  seems  to  me,"  said  the  man  of  sci 
ence,  "  that  a  knowledge  of  mathematics 
would  make  paupers  of  all  the  miners,  or 
else  cause  them  to  kill  their  babies  as  fast  as 
they  were  born." 


I  1 4  MOONB LIGHT. 

"It  makes  tramps  of  some,"  continued 
Clint.  "If  you  at  any  time  want  to  know 
what  wages  the  miners  are  receiving,  watch 
the  newspapers  closely,  and  you  will  see  re 
ported  the  fact  that  a  few  men  meet  monthly 
in  New  York  City  and  arbitrarily  set  the  fig 
ures  at  which  coal  is  to  be  sold.  Now  make 
a  table  of  these  figures  like  the  one  I  have 
just  shown  you,  strike  your  average,  and  use 
this  proportion:  As  the  original  $5.00  a  ton 
is  to  the  42^  cents,  so  is  the  average  you 
have  struck  to  the  wages  of  the  miners  at 
the  time  the  quotations  were  made.  Simple 
Rule  of  Three,  you  see.  For  instance,  if  coal 
sells  now  at  $4.00,  the  miner  will  receive  a 
little  over  34  cents  for  mining  a  ton.  Re 
member  that  a  good  miner  and  his  help  can 
cut  about  ten  tons  a  day  ;  help  costs  $2.10 
per  day,  and  that  one  keg  of  powder  costs 
$2.75,  and  will  cut  from  twenty-five  to  thirty 
tons  of  coal,  and  dockage  will  average  six 
per  cent,  of  all  coal  sent  out ;  and  don't 
forget  that  all  miners'  supplies  come  from 
the  company's  store  and  at  extortionate 
prices." 

"That  will  do  for  to-night,  Clint.  I  have 
as  much  on  my  conscience  as  it  will  bear  at 
present.  Why  have  you  never  told  me  this 


MOONBLIGHT.  I  I  5 

before  ? "  I  asked  ;  but  I  saw  the  answer  be 
fore  Clint  gave  it,  and  hastened  to  forestall 
him  with  " That's  all  right;  I  understand." 
Then  I  asked  :  "  What  advance  will  my  men 
ask  for,  and  when  ?  " 

"They  will  ask,  as  my  informant  tells  me, 
for  the  abolition  of  the  two  cheap  or  dirt 
coals  from  the  list,  and  a  restoration  of  steam 
boat,  and  will  not  make  the  demand  until 
next  week." 

"How  do  you  get  your  information, 
Clint?" 

"  From  a  Pinkerton  who  belongs  to 
their  society,  and  reports  to  me  once  a 
week." 

"  Have  the  men  announced  it  publicly  as 
yet,  or  has  it  leaked  out,  that  there  will  be  a 
strike  ? " 

"  No,  sir." 

"Then  cause  a  notice  to  be  posted  imme 
diately,  commending  the  men  for  their  faith 
fulness — I  have  been  watching  them  at  work 
and  at  home,  and  I  must  confess  that  I  was 
more  than  surprised  at  the  general  industry 
and  economy  of  these  poor  fellows — and 
end  it  with  a  proclamation  to  the  effect  that 
on  and  after  date  an  increase  of  ten  per  cent, 
will  be  given.  We  will  retain  the  system 


I  1 6  MOONBLIGHT. 

because  I  think  that  by  gradually  eliminat 
ing  the  evils,  it  may  be  made  a  good  thing. 
By  the  way,  Clint,  if  these  fellows  had  free 
use  of  the  land  around  here,  could  they 
make  $2.00  a  day  ?  " 

The  answer  came  promptly,  "  Yes,  sir ; 
with  half  the  work  they  do  now,  and  every 
day  in  the  week." 

"  That  will  do,  Clint.  See  that  the  notice 
is  posted." 

Clint  rose,  and  looked  at  me  in  a  curious 
sort  of  way,  but  said  nothing. 

"  Did  you  hear?"  I  continued.  "  Give  the 
poor  fellows  an  advance  of  ten  per  cent. — 
no,  make  it  fifteen — and  some  compliment  on 
their  industry  thrown  in,  and  do  it  before 
they  make  a  formal  demand  —  forestall 
them — do  you  see  ?  " 

"I  understand,  sir,"  answered  the  superin 
tendent.  "You  know  what  that  means?" 

"  Why,  it  means  more  money  for  the  poor 
wretches." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  answered  the  practical  man  of 
facts,  "it  means  that  and  more.  It  means 
that  you  will  precipitate  a  strike  through  the 
whole  coal  region  ;  it  means  that  all  the 
other  corporations  and  private  owners  will 
be  down  on  you  and  combine  against 


-•£-  •  *£ 


AS  THE  MOON  WATCHED  THE  OLD  CONTINENTAL  FREEZING  AT 

VALLEY  FORGE. 

117 


I  1 8  MOONBLIGHT. 

you  ;  that  your  coal  will  be  boycotted  by 
the  railroads.  It  means  a  fight !  "  * 

"  Well,  Clint,  are  n't  you  game  for  a 
fight?" 

Clint's  broad  mouth  widened  still  further 
into  a  broader  smile,  as  he  answered,  "  You 
are  the  boss,  sir.  If  you  know  what  the  step 
you  are  taking  means,  and  will  see  me 
through,  I  rather  guess  I'm  game  enough  to 
carry  out  my  part  of  the  job.  I'd  rather  face 
the  corporations  than  the  Mollies,  and  I've 
faced  them  in  some  pretty  ticklish  situations. 
Good  night,  sir."  And  Clint  bowed  himself 
out. 

*  EXTRACT    FROM    A    LETTER    TO    THE    "  STANDARD.  ' 

Away  back  in  the  70' s  Mr.  Coxe  was  a  land  owner,  having 
all  his  collieries  except  Drifton  (his  home)  leased  to  outside  par 
ties,  who  operated  them.  In  the  spring  of  1877  the  coal  trade 
reached  its  lowest  ebb,  the  mine  workers  worked  six  or  eight  days 
per  month,  and  Mr.  Coxe  realized  the  necessity  of  seeking  wider 
markets  for  anthracite  coal.  He  surveyed  the  field  and  called  his 
men  together,  making  the  proposition  that  if  they  agreed  to  work 
at  a  specified  rate  of  wages  for  said  year  he  would  warrant  them 
steady  work  for  that  period.  The  men  accepted,  and  Mr.  Coxe 
commenced  operations  by  building  boats  and  shipping  coal  by  the 
lakes  into  the  western  market.  He  was  a  pioneer  in  the  busi 
ness,  and  expended  an  enormous  sum  to  make  the  enterprise  a 
success. 

In  the  meantime  the  Lehigh  Valley  railroad  company  had  its 
secret  agents  at  work  buying  up  and  grabbing  all  available  coal 
lands.  In  a  short  time  the  Lehigh  Valley  company,  in  direct  vio 
lation  of  the  state  constitution,  commenced  operations  as  miners 


MOONBLIGHT.  I  1 9 

"  You  are  in  for  it  now,"  said  the  professor. 
"  But  from  the  looks  of  your  superintendent, 
I  think  you  have  a  good  man  to  back  you  ; 
and  if  you  will  make  a  place  at  your  office 
for  your  friend  the  bar-keeper,  you  three  will 
form  a  strong  combination  of  talent.  Of  all 
men,  a  bar-keeper  has  the  greatest  opportuni 
ties  of  knowing  other  men's  weak  points, 
and  this  barkeeper  appears  to  have  intelli 
gence  enough  to  make  use  of  his  knowledge. 
Good  night  and  good  luck  to  you  !  I  leave 
in  the  morning  on  the  early  train.  I  am 
sorry,  for  I  should  dearly  like  to  see  you 
through  this.  Good-bye." 


and  shippers  of  coal,  and  of  course  coveted  Mr.  Coxe's  western 
market.  For  a  while  competition  was  keen,  but  Mr.  Coxe,  being 
an  energetic  business  man,  and  having  a  fair  field,  was  amply  able 
to  hold  his  own.  He  was  compelled  to  ship  his  coal  over  the  Le- 
high  Valley  road,  and  the  company  determined  to  exterminate 
him  by  discriminations  in  tolls.  Mr.  Coxe,  after  appealing  in 
vain  to  other  individual  operators  for  aid  and  co-operation,  went 
it  alone  and  brought  the  Valley  company  before  the  inter-state 
commerce  commissioners,  with  the  result  that  that  august  body 
has  failed  to  render  a  decision,  although  the  case  has  been  in  their 
hands  for  three  years. 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  Coxe's  leases  have  expired,  all  his  mines 
being  controlled  and  operated  by  himself.  He  is  aland  user  and 
as  hopelessly  in  the  grasp  of  the  railroads  as  his  poor  miners  are 
in  his.  But  he  does  not  stop  here.  He  is  building  a  railroad  of 
his  own  to  connect  with  four  trunk-lines,  apparently  ignoring  the 
fact  that  these  four  roads  may  pool  their  issues  and  leave  him 
more  helpless  and  dependent  than  before. 


I2O 


MOONBLIGHT. 


Once  again  I  was  left  alone  in  the  room 
with  the  fishing-rods,  guns,  and  weird  books 
of  that  mysterious  regular  boarder  ;  but  the 


"THE  OLD,  WHITE-FACED  MOON  SAW  THIS." 

fire  burned  brightly  and  from  the  outside  the 
moon  peeped  into  the  window,  with  a  face  as 


MOONB LIGHT.  121 

broad  and  determined-looking  as  my  super 
intendent's.  No  wonder,  poor  thing  !  If  it 
has  any  heart  at  all,  it  must  be  worn  out  or 
hardened  to  flint  by  the  sights  it  sees  as  it 
sails  through  the  clouds  that  surround  our 
poor,  wicked,  blind,  and  ignorant  little  earth. 

I  wondered  if,  at  the  birth  of  this  nation,  as 
the  moon  watched  "the  old  Continentals  in 
their  ragged  regimentals,"  starving  and  freez 
ing  at  Valley  Forge,  it  had  any  hopes  of  see 
ing  the  spirit  of  freedom  that  these  heroes 
were  suffering  for,  triumph  ;  or  if  its  lunar 
experience  in  watching  other  like  struggles, 
which  were  crushed  in  the  end  by  the  very 
wealth  the  temporary  freedom  created, 
taught  it  to  foresee  a  like  end  to  the  old 
Continentals'  hopes. 

Freedom  is  health :  slavery  is  disease. 
And  even  while  our  ancestors  were  suffer 
ing  from  the  surgical  operation  that  cut  out 
the  cancer  of  monarchy,  they  left,  as  an  in 
heritance  for  their  children,  a  pustule  called 
negro  slavery.  The  old,  white-faced  moon 
saw  this — saw  the  disease  grow  until  it  prov 
ed  almost  fatal ;  and  the  silver  light  from 
the*  sky  shone  over  many  a  bloody  field 
where  Labor  laid  on  the  altar  of  Freedom 
thousands  of  her  sons. 


122  MOONBLIGHT. 

Yes,  and  as  we  were  resting  after  that 
almost  fatal  operation  of  the  surgeon's  pain 
ful  knife,  the  old  moon  saw,  and  still  sees, 
another  neoplasm  forming  on  Uncle  Sam's 
body.  All  of  these  diseases  come  from 
the  roots  of  the  old  monarchical  cancer  left 
in  the  nation's'system. 

James  Henry  Hammond  voiced  the  sen 
timents  of  the  old  Slave  States  when  he 
said  : 

"  In  all  social  systems  there  must  be  a 
class  to  do  the  mean  duties,  to  perform  the 
drudgery  of  life  ;  that  is,  a  class  requiring 
but  a  low  order  of  intellect  and  but  little 
skill.  Its  requisites  are  vigor,  docility,  fidel 
ity.  Such  a  class  you  must  have,  or  you 
would  not  have  that  other  class  which  leads 
progress,  refinement,  and  civilization.  It 
constitutes  the  very  mudsills  of  society  and 
of  political  government  ;  and  you  might  as 
well  attempt  to  build  a  house  in  the  air  as  to 
build  either  the  one  or  the  other  except  on 
the  mudsills.  Fortunately  for  the  South,  she 
found  a  race  adapted  to  that  purpose  to  her 
hand — a  race  inferior  to  herself,  but  emi 
nently  qualified  in  temper,  in  vigor,  in  docil 
ity,  in  capacity  to  stand  the  climate,  to  an 
swer  all  her  purposes." 


MOONBLIGHT.  12$ 

And  this  old  believer  in  chattel  slavery 
was  right,  when,  continuing',  he  said  : 

"  We  use  them  for  the  purpose  and  call 
them  slaves.  We  are  old-fashioned  at  the 
South  yet  ;  it  is  a  word  discarded  now  by 
ears  polite ;  but  I  will  not  characterize  that 
class  at  the  North  with  that  term  ;  but  you 
have  it  ;  it  is  there  ;  it  is  everywhere  ! " 

Mudsills  !  Ah,  the  poor  mudsills  upon 
which  all  our  wealth  and  power  rest ! 
What  if  these  mudsills,  after  a  drenching 
rain,  should  become  slippery  ?  What  if  they 
should  slide  ?  What  becomes  of  the  tem 
ples,  churches,  and  cities,  whose  massive 
walls  rest  so  heavily  on  the  earth  as  to  cause 
a  landslide  ?  The  broad-faced  moon  knows. 
She  has  seen  them  dashed  to  pieces,  in  one 
confused  mass  ;  she  has  seen  old  Mother 
Nature  heal  up  the  wound  and  hide  the  scar 
with  wild  flowers,  trees  and  vines  ;  and  the 
earth  still  rolled  on  ! 

"  O  thou  ghostly  phantom  of  the  sky  that 
hast  watched  our  puny,  selfish  race  for  so 
many  centuries,  tell  me,"  I  cried,  "  are  we 
to  be  another  Rome  ?  Is  our  glorious  re 
public  to  be  sacrificed  because  the  rich  are 
insatiable  and  the  poor  are  slaves?" 

"  Not  by  a  long  shot !"  answered  a  voice 


I24 


MOONBLIGHT. 


in  anything  but  a  lunar  tone.  "  We're  all 
right,"  continued  the  voice,  which  I  at  once 
recognized  to  be  Sam's.  "  Don't  you  see  der 
moon's  all  right,  too?  Thet's  what  she 
means  by  squinting  thet  left  eye.  She  says, 
says  she,  '  Yer  don't  build  no  fence  around 
me.  Yer  can't  stick  yer  trespass  signs  up 
on  me.  I'm  a  free-trader,  a  free-thinker,  a 
free-lander.  I  goes  booming  right  along 
'bout  my  business,  and  a  millionaire  ain't  no 
more  to  me  than  nothing  ;  I  don't  know  'em  ; 
they  hain't  in  it,  and  hain't  got  a  jewel  in 
their  hoard  that  can  shine  like  me.  I'm  all 
right.  I'm  in  the  push,  I  am !  I'm  the  poor 
man's  gas-company,  and  never  send  a  man 
'round  to  pertend  to  read  the  meter,  and 
charge  him  so  much  a  cubic-foot  for  moon 
light.  No,  sir-ree  bob  horse  fly  ;  what  I've 
got,  I  give,  and  ask  no  questions.  I'm  a 
white  man,  I  am.  I'm  a  true  democrat  that's 
just  as  happy  a  letting  my  Might  shine  '  on 
a  lot  of  innocent  niggers  in  '  darkest  Africa  ' 
as  I  am  shining  on  a  lot  of  poor  dudes  stag 
gering  home  from  der  club.  I  don't  blame 
der  dudes  :  they  can't  help  being  born  rich, 
and  I  don't  consider  it  any  more  disgrace  than 
being  born  in  der  top  of  a  tenement  house 
or  in  a  Spring  Valley  coal  miner's  hut  after 


MOONBLIGHT,  125 

der  mortgage  was  foreclosed  by  der  wealthy 
men  who  ran  that  bunco  game.'  ' 

"  Hold  on,  Sam!"  I  shouted,  laughing, 
"  hold  on  !  The  moon  doesn't  use  any  such 
slangy  speech  as  that." 

"  No,"  answered  Sam,  with  a  grin,  "  no 
more  'n  she  does  poetry.  To  a  feller  who 
only  talks  slang,  the  moon  expresses  herself 
in  slang.  To  the  poetry  chap,  the  moon  is 
poetical  ;  to  me,  the  moon  is  democratical." 

Sam  was  about  to  pass  on  his  way  through 
the  hall,  when  I  called  to  him,  and  told  him 
of  the  conversation  between  the  superintend 
ent  and  myself,  and  of  the  fight  in  prospect. 
At  the  word  "  fight,"  Sam  set  down  his  bad- 
smelling  lamp  that  he  had  been  holding  in 
one  hand,  and  protecting  from  the  draught 
with  the  other. 

A  smile  like  that  which  had  broadened  the 
mouth  of  my  superintendent  caused  Sam's 
kinky  moustache  to  curl  at  the  ends,  and  he 
slid  into  a  chair  near  the  door,  and  waited 
for  further  details.  I  told  him  what  the 
professor  had  said,  and  that,  as  Mr.  Keene 
would  say,  "  it  coincided  with  my  precon 
ceived  ideas  exactly." 

.Sam's   face  looked  solemn  in  an  instant, 
and  he  was  about  to  decline  my  proffer  of  a 


126  MOONBLIGHT. 

position.  I  saw  it  was  because  he  thought  it 
was  made  for  him  out  of  a  sort  of  charitable 
feeling".  I  hastened  to  explain  how  useful  he 
would  be  to  me,  and  then  I  met  another  un 
looked-for  opposition  in  regard  to  the  amount 
he  was  to  receive  for  his  services. 

"  No,  sir,"  he  said,  "  'tain't  no  use  talking. 
I  ain't  wuth  any  such  sum  as  thet  ;  and  while 
I  would,  if  I  could,  demand  as  my  right 
every  durned  cent  I  am  wuth,  to  take  a  cent 
more  is  to  acknowledge  myself  to  myself  as 
a  pauper  or  a  parasite  living  off  some  one 
else." 

At  last  I  let  the  matter  of  salary  drop;  and 
he  consented  to  accept  the  situation,  emolu 
ments  to  be  agreed  upon  after  trial,  provided 
I  would  allow  him  to  do  the  square  thing  by 
the  hotel  man  and  get  another  fellow  to  fill 
his  place  as  clerk  and  bar-keeper,  etc.;  and  I 
bade  him  good-night. 

Not  long  after  engaging  Sam  as  a  private 
secretary  and  general  assistant  I  received 
notice  that  the  regular  boarder  was  expected 
to  return  and  claim  possession  of  his  room ; 
and  having  succeeded  in  finding  a  man  from 
a  neighboring  town  to  take  Sam's  place  at 
the  bar,  and  a  small  Italian  to  assume  Nate's 
duties  of  sweep,  bootblack,  and  bell-boy,  our 


MOONBLIGH7\  I  2  7 

little  colony  decided  to  move  from  the  strag 
gling,  dirty  mining  town  to  a  no  less  dirty 
and  hopeless-looking  spot  in  the  vicinity  of 
my  own  mines,  which  were  situated  some 
eight  or  ten  miles  distant. 

When  we  arrived,  we  were  received  by 
Mr.  Butts  at  the  depot,  and  escorted  to  our 
quarters.  Clint  had  erected  for  me  a  snug 
little  shanty,  with  an  office  in  front  and  a 
bedroom  in  the  rear.  The  village,  if  the 
group  of  shanties  adjoining  my  mines  could 
be  dignified  by  such  a  name,  I  christened 
"  Moonblight." 


CHAPTER    VI. 

OT  many  months  after  we 
had    settled   in    our    new 
quarters,  while  I  was  busy 
working-  over  plans  and 
studying-    out    some 
new  schemes,  the  door 
flew  open  and  in  came 
a  muffled  figure.     Above 
the  fur  collar  of  the  over 
coat    gleamed    a   pair  of 
gold-rimmed     glasses,    and    a 
moment  later  I   was    grasping 
the  hand  of  Professor  Follium. 

"Well,  now,  this  is  snug!"  exclaimed  the 
little  man,  as  he  looked  around  at  the 
scattered  paper,  architects'  plans,  surveyors' 
implements,  top-boots,  axes,  picks,  patent 
lamps,  models,  and  all  the  medley  of  mate 
rial  that  a  few  months  had  collected  around 
rue.  "But  where  on  earth  did  you  find  such 
a  name  for  your  city  ?"  inquired  the  profess 
or,  as  his  eye  caught  a  new,  colored  plan  of 

128 


MOONBLIGHT.  1 29 

the  village,  laid  out  and  mapped  under  the 
directions  of  Clinton  Butts,  C.  E. 

"  Oh,  it's  a  long  story,  Professor,"  I  replied; 
"but  I  feel  like  talking,  for  I  have  done  very 
little  of  it  lately.  I  have  not  had  time  to 
talk  much  since  I  saw  you  last.  I  will  tell 
you  all  about  it;  but  first  tell  me  where  you 
came  from,  and  what  brought  you  away  out 
here  this  time  of  the  year  ? " 

"  Never  mind  about  me.  My  doings  are 
uninteresting.  Been  on  a  lecturing  tour  ; 
was  in  the  neighborhood,  and  my  curiosity 
to  know  how  you  were  getting  on,  added  to 
my  desire  to  see  you,  made  me  time  my  en 
gagements  so  that  I  might  have  a  few  days 
off  when  I  reached  this  neighborhood;  and, 
now  I  am  here,  I  am  anxious  to  know  what 
possessed  you  to  choose  such  a  queer  name 
for  your  proposed  city — for  I  see  by  Mr. 
Butts's  map  here  that  you  intend  to  make  a 
city  of  it.  Please  tell  me  what  that  word 
means,  where  you  got  it,  and  how  you  came 
to  choose  it.  I  am  as  curious  as  a  child." 
And  throwing  himself  back  on  the  wolf-skin 
that  covered  an  easy-chair  near  the  open  fire, 
the  professor  assumed  a  comfortable  attitude 
of  attention.  There  was  a  twinkle  in  his  eye, 
as  he  glanced  at  my  long,  curly  hair  and 


1 3o 


MOONBLIGHT. 


blond  beard,  but  he  made  no  remarks  upon 
them. 

I  began  and  told  him  my  whole  experience 
during  the  night  spent  with  those  strange 
books  of  the  "regular  boarder"  at  the 
American  House.  During  the  recital  the 
pleasant  face  of  my  friend  assumed  as  grave 
a  look  as  it  was 
possible  for  mus 
cles  accustomed 
to  be  stimulated 
only  by  dry  good 
humor,  mirth  and 
good-fellowship 
to  assume:  when 
I  finished  he  re 
mained  silent  for 
a  long  time,  and 
then  muttered : 

"  Remarkable  ! 
remarkable !  Why,  you  are  a  regular  St. 
Paul ! "  he  exclaimed  at  last,  as  his  face 
regained  its  accustomed  good-natured  ex 
pression.  "  But  do  you  know,"  he  continued, 
"I  believe  that  both  you  and  St.  Paul  were 
unconsciously  preparing  yourselves  for  the 
change  that  was  to  come,  long  before  the 
light  blinded  you.  Had  your  mind  not  been 


A    SKETCH   FROM    NATURE. 


MOONBLIGHT. 


prepared   you  would    not   have    understood 

the     message 
when    it    came ; 
the  old  book  of 
magic   would 
have   been  sim 
ply  an  old  book 
of  magic — noth 
ing  more.     The 
deeper  meaning 
was  in  you,   or 
the  book  could 
not  have  reach 
ed    you.      With 
most  of  us  this 
change    is   so 
gradual  that  we  are 
unconscious  of  it.    If 
our  spiritual  eyes  are 
opened,  it  is  by  such 
slow  degrees  that  we 
do  not  know  it,  and 
attribute  our  insight 
into  hidden  things 
to  an  accomplish 
ment    acquired    by 
constant  practice  in 
looking  for  the  real  meaning  of  what  we  see. 


ITS    APPLICATION. 


MOONBLIGHT. 


So  you  found  Mr.  Keene  to  be  a  fox  and  a 
wolf?  Ha,  ha!"  laughed  the  little  fellow. 
"And  that  spider  illustration — why  !  that's 
an  inspiration.  I  have  a  collection  of  those 
spiders  at  the  college,  and  I'll  never  look  at 
them  again  without  thinking  of  your  mine 
owners'  meeting.  Oh,  they  are  financiers, 
those  spiders !  They  live,  literally,  in  a  bed 
of  roses  and  grow  fat  on  the  blood  of  the 
industrious  bees.  Good !  Grand !  I'll  use 
that  illustration  in  my  next  lecture,  if  I  am 
mobbed  for  it;  and  if  I  can  find  that  regular 
boarder,  I'll  pawn  my  clothes  to  buy  his 
witch-book.  But  first  I  will  try  to  'purify 
my  mind.' "  And  again  the  grave  look 
chased  the  dimples  from  the  rosy  cheek  of 
the  man  of  science.  "  Yes,  sir;  I'll  become 
an  alchemist  too,  and  try  to  see  how  much 
gold  I  can  make  out  of  my  audiences.  No 
pun,  no  pun;  I  did  not  mean  it  that  way. 
You  cannot  get  much  money  out  of  people 
when  you  want  to  teach  them  anything: 
they  will  pay  to  be  amused,  but  as  a  rule, 
they  hate  to  be  instructed.  It  makes  them 
think,  and  if  they  think,  why,  then,  my  dear 
boy,  they  might  see  things  as  they  really 
are,  eh  ?  " 

"  Professor,"    I  ^exclaimed,    "you    do    not 


MOONBLIGHT.  133 

know  how  pleasant  it  is  to  hear  you  talk  like 
this !  I  was  certain  that  you  would  not 
laugh  at  me — at  least,  I  thought  I  was;  but 
the  relief  I  feel  at  hearing  you  indorse  my 
opinions  and  approve  my  actions  shows  me 
that  there  must  have  been  a  lurking  fear  or 
doubt  that  you  would,  like  the  villagers  in  the 
other  town,  think  that  I  was  flighty;  and 
while,  generally,  such  things  do  not  bother 
me,  I  would  have  felt  it  grievously  if  you  too 
had  harbored  any  such  thought.  I  may  yet 
have  need  of  your  testimony  as  an  expert;  for 
Mr.  Keene  has  twice  tried  to  cause  my  arrest 
and  incarceration  as  a  lunatic.  I  have  been 
shadowed  by  detectives — my  steps  dogged 
by  agents  of  the  combination  of  Keene, 
White,  and  Brown.  Even  my  long  hair  and 
beard  were  urged  by  my  enemies  as  signs 
of  insanity.  In  vain  have  Keene,  White,  and 
Brown  searched  for  my  heirs,  hoping  that 
they  would  cause  me  to  be  locked  up  as 
incompetent  to  take  care  of  my  estate.  I 
knew,  if  they  found  them,  they  would  do 
more  than  I  can  do,  for  I  am  the  last  of  our 
line  in  this  country,  and  the  other  branches 
are  all  across  the  water,  bearing  a  different 
name.  The  name  I  am  known  by  is  one  as 
sumed  by  an  old  ancestor  when  he  escaped 


134 


MOONBLIGHT. 


to  this  country  from  the  political  persecution 
in  England  to  which  his  outspoken  ideas  on 
government  subjected  him;  hence  I  feel  com 
paratively  easy  on  that  score." 

"  They  think,  or  pretend  to  think,  you  a 
lunatic  ?  Ah,  the  rogues  !  It  would  be  well 
for  them,  and  for  the  poor  wretches  upon 


"  I   AM    A    FIRM    BELIEVER   IN    GNOMES,    BROWNIES,    AND    FAIRIES 
AS    REAL   LIVE    BEINGS." 

whose  labor  they  live,  if  your  lunacy  were 
contagious.  I  shall  add  a  new  word  to  my 
dictionary:  '  Moonblight — That  sort  of  lu 
nacy  that  causes  a  man  to  try  to  act  like  a 
man';  and  I  will  change  the  definition  of  '  fi 
nanciering '  to  'That  sort  of  lunacy  which 
makes  a  man  forget  that  he  is  a  man';  and 
every  time  that  I  find  among  my  collection 


MOONBLIGHT. 


135 


of  old  prints  the  picture  of  a  witch  on  a 
broom,  I'll  draw  around  her  head  one  of 
those  hoops  or  pin-wheels  such  as  the  old 
masters  always  put  around  the  heads  of 
saints.  As  for  your  beard  and  hair, 
why,  they  make  you  positively  handsome  ; 
they  are  nature's  own  adornment.  Not  only 


"I  AM   A   FIRM    BELIEVER    IN    GNOMES,    BROWNIES,    AND    FAIRIES 
AS    REAL   LIVE    BEINGS." 

have  you  taught  me,  my  boy,  to  believe  in 
the  old  books  of  magic,  but  I  have  already 
taken  a  step  ahead  of  you.  I  am  a  firm  be 
liever  in  gnomes,  brownies,  and  fairies  as 
real  live  beings.  I  mean  it — I  believe  in 
them. 

"  An  artist   conceives  a  great  picture   be 
fore  he   has  drawn  a  line   or  put  a  brush  to 


136  MOONBLIGHT. 

the  canvas  ;  and  so  real  is  it  that  he  will  alter 
the  composition,  take  a  figure  out  here,  and 
put  one  in  there  ;  and  yet,  to  all  the  world 
but  the  painter,  that  picture  is  invisible.  A 
poet  will  conceive  a  poem  while  the  paper 
before  him  is  blank  and  his  pen  dry.  An 
architect  will  build  a  palace,  and  frequently 
select  designs  for  minor  details  of  ornament, 
wrhile  it  is  still  a  castle  in  the  air,  visible  only 
to  the  architect  himself.  An  inventor  makes 
a  machine  while  vainly  trying  to  sleep  at 
night,  surrounded  by  darkness  and  dressed  in 
his  night-clothes,  and  nothing  is  visible  to 
any  one's  sight  but  his  own  until  he  embodies 
his  thoughts  in  wood  or  iron.  All  these 
things  are  real.  Who  can  deny  their  exist 
ence  ?  They  are  the  gnomes,  the  brownies, 
the  fairies,  wearing  their  magical  caps  which 
render  them  invisible.  When  the  caps  are 
removed,  we  see  pictures,  poems,  buildings, 
operas  or  machinery — whatever  excites  our 
admiration,  veneration,  and  wonder. 

"  There  is  not  a  principle  in  government 
that  did  not  first  have  its  existence  in  the 
mind  of  some  dreamer  or  '  crank.'  There  is 
not  a  reform  accomplished  that  did  not  origi 
nate  as  an  immaterial,  intangible  thing  called 
a  thought.  Each  human  being  is  constantly 


MOONBLIGHT.  737 

conjuring  up  and  sending  forth  innumerable 
fairies,  gnomes  and  brownies,  to  caper 
around  the  earth,  performing  all  sorts  of 
mischievous  ,  vicious,  harmless,  pleasant,  en 
tertaining,  helpful,  or  useful  acts  ;  and  these 
little  folks  never  die,  but  go  capering  on 
through  all  time,  bobbing  up  here  and 
there,  in  the  most  unexpected  and  surprising 
manner. 

"  Everything  that  represents  the  product 
of  human  labor  first  existed  as  a  thought, 
and  without  the  application  of  human  labor, 
which  removed  the  magical  cap,  would  have 
died  a  thought,  unknown  and  unseen  by  the 
world.  What  is  true  of  us  is  true  of  nature. 
Every  object,  plant,  mountain,  river,  sea, 
continent,  must  first  have  existed  as  a 
thought." 

"Yes,  professor,  I  too  believe  in  the  fairies 
you  describe,  and  these  little  folk  give  me 
courage  ;  these  are  the  fairies  that  supported 
me  when,  in  spite  of  my  wealth,  I  felt  help 
less  and  incapable  of  doing  aught  to  allevi 
ate  the  suffering  I  saw  around  me.  Whether 
the  reforms  I  have  introduced  at  my  mines 
will  of  themselves  result  in  good,  I  know 
not  ;  but  this  much  I  can  see  with  my  spirit 
ual  eyes — that  an  honest,  thoughtful  effort 


138  MOONBLIGHT. 

for  the  good  of  others,  in  spite  of  mistakes 
and  blunders,  never  fails  to  result  in  good. 
I  think  that  there  are  many  rough  diamonds 
among  my  men,  who  need  only  the  jeweler 
to  make  them  gems  of  great  value." 

"Gems?"  interrupted  the  lecturer;  "the 
soil  of  the  road,  farm,  or  barnyard,  when  crys 
tallization  has  rearranged  the  molecules,  is 
worn  by  us  as  ornaments  of  the  greatest 
value,  and  we  hoard  them  in  our  treasure 
chests  or  place  them  behind  the  locks  and 
bars  of  a  safe-deposit  vault  for  safe  keep 
ing  ;  yet,  day  by  day,  we  trample  the  same 
material  under  foot  or  carefully  brush  it  from 
our  clothes,  and  call  it  dirt.  We  never  think 
of  how  much  greater  value  it  is  in  the  form 
of  dirt,  the  food-supply  for  all  vegetation  ! 
That  is  not  impromptu  ;  it  is  from  my  last 
lecture,  but  it  applies  here,  so  I  use  it. 

"  Suppose  that  all  the  different  molecules 
that  go  to  compose  the  so-called  precious 
stones  were  allowed  to  assume  the  form  of 
crystals.  With  diamonds  enough  to  build 
our  houses,  we  should  die  of  starvation. 
You  could  not  farm  land  composed  of  dia 
monds  ;  the  hardiest  plant  could  receive  no 
nourishment  if  planted  in  a  bed  of  rubies ; 
corn  would  not  grow  in  a  field  of  emeralds. 


MOONBLIGHT.  139 

All  vegetation  would  cease  to  exist  for  want 
of  food  and  all  animal  life  would  soon  fol 
low  from  the  same  cause.  Neither  animals 
nor  vegetables  can  live  on  gems." 

"  Professor,"  I  interrupted,  "  there  is  a  gem 
whose  crystallization  cannot  hurt  it  ;  it  is 
love  —  the  only  thing  of  real  value  in  this 
world ;  and  usefulness  is  another  name  for 
love,  Here,  I  have  discovered,  is  the  secret 
cause  of  the  nobility  that  made  the  hump 
back's  face  shine  the  morning  after  the  mem 
orable  night  spent  with  the  old  books,  in  the 
regular  boarder's  room.  Nate's  only  thought 
is  for  others ;  his  own  fate,  discomfort  or 
inconvenience  never  adds  weight  to  the 
burden  his  poor,  distorted  back  has  to 
bear." 

But  the  little  man  had  warmed  up  to  his 
lecture,  and  apparently  without  heeding  the 
interruption,  continued: 

"  Dirt  is  of  inestimable  value,  as  it  repre 
sents  the  love  of  the  Creator  in  providing  a 
storehouse  from  which  his  creatures  are  to 
get  their  food,  clothing,  and  shelter.  Nature, 
through  the  medium  of  wild  plants  and  ani 
mals,  prepares  the  crude  material  in  a  form 
fit  for  the  support  and  shelter  of  man  ;  but 
man  cannot  obtain  it  without  labor.  Man, 


I4O  MOONB  LIGHT. 

even  in  his  most  primitive  state,  must  labor 
as  a  hunter  and  fisherman  to  live." 

The  professor  gave  me  many  points  which, 
from  my  lack  of  scientific  education,  I  should 
have  missed.  He  directed  my  attention  to 
the  fact  that  physical  force  became  an 
element  in  society  when  the  primitive  man 
discovered  that  weapons  he  used  to  kill  game 
would  kill  his  brother  as  well,  and  employ 
ed  those  weapons  to  compel  his  weaker,  or 
not  so  well-armed,  brother  to  hunt  and 
fish  for  him. 

"  Yes,"  said  my  friend,  "he  risked  his  life 
and  that  of  his  family  and  tribe  for  the 
chance  of  living  upon  the  labor  of  others." 

"  But  he  was  a  savage,"  said  I. 

"  Ah,  yes  ;  and  that  gnome,  conjured  up 
by  the  primitive  savage,  still  lives.  He  and 
slavery  were  born  together,  and  will  exist 
together  until  physical  force  ceases  to  con 
trol,  and  usefulness  has  the  seat  of  honor. 
The  gnome  conjured  up  by  the  primitive 
man,  and  made  visible  by  the  use  of  weapons 
against  his  brother  savage,  is  the  gnome  that 
builds  our  forts,  that  plans  our  ironclads,  that 
drills  our  armies,  and  sits  alongside  the 
banker  and  railroad  magnate  in  the  count 
ing-room  and  in  the  office.  This  last,  my 


MOONBLIGHT.  141 

dear  fellow,  is  impromptu,  and  not  in  my 
lecture." 

"  Bravo  !  "  I  exclaimed.  "  There  is  noth 
ing  like  science  to  help  a  fellow,  either  in 
speechmaking  or  in  a  mining  operation." 

I  do  not  remember  a  morning  spent  more 
enjoyably  than  that  winter  morning  in  the 
office  of  my  shanty  at  Moonblight. 

I  had  a  large  open  fire,  and  although  coal 
was  everywhere,  I  burned  wood.  It  is  so 
cheerful  and  bright,  and  then  the  smell  of  it 
takes  me  back  to  the  old  homestead  in  Ohio 
where  I  lived  as  a  boy.  This  wood-fire  was 
the  only  real  luxury  in  which  I  indulged. 
The  furniture  of  the  office  was  made  by  the 
carpenter,  and  the  easy-chair  that  the  pro 
fessor  occupied,  had  it  not  been  for  the  wolf 
skin  carriage-robe  thrown  over  it,  would  have 
been  but  a  hard  seat;  for  it  was  made  of  pine 
boards  in  a  very  primitive  manner.  Like  a 
couple  of  boys,  we  two  sat  there  in  front  of 
the  fire,  and  took  turns  poking  the  logs,  to 
see  the  sparks  go  up  the  chimney,  and  we 
talked  as  fast  as  any  two  school-chums  when 
they  meet  after  their  holiday  vacation. 

"  Come,"  said  the  professor,  "  tell  me  all 
about  your  plans  and  what  you  have  done." 

"  As  I  have  told  you,  my  steps  at  first  were 


1 4  2  MOONBLIGHT. 

dogged,  and  I  was  everywhere  shadowed 
by  detectives.  You  informed  me  when  last 
I  saw  you  that  I  was  'in  for  it,'  and  I 
am  in  for  it,  heart  and  soul.  Thanks  to  the 
book  of  Magus,  I  can  read  men,  and  I  rec 
ognized  these  spies  at  a  glance  ;  but  at  first 
I  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in  restraining 
Sam,  whose  indignation  would  get  the  bet 
ter  of  his  universal-peace  doctrine ;  and 
both  he  and  Clint  were  bent  on  *  doing ' 
the  detectives." 

"  '  Doing '  them  ?  "  said  the  professor.  "  I 
do  not  quite  understand." 

4<Oh,  it  is  one  of  Sam's  expressions,  and 
means  pounding  and  jumping  on  them  until 
they  are  good  subjects  for  the  hospital.  Sam 
is  invaluable,  always  bright  and  ready  for 
what  the  day  may  bring  forth.  He  believes 
that  physical  force  is  wrong,  and  if  his  indig 
nation  should  get  the  better  of  him  at  any 
time,  and  cause  him  to  knock  a  man  down, 
he  would  be  abject  in  his  apologies  the  next 
moment.  Naturally  a  fighter,  his  philosophy 
and  his  pugnacious  instinct  are  constantly  at 
war.  His  philosophy  is  stronger  than  his 
instinct,  and  gaining  strength  by  exercise 
every  day  ;  but  should  the  excitement  of  the 
moment  ever  cause  him  to  act  before  his  for- 


MOONBLIGHT.  143 

bearance  could  influence  him,  there  would 
be  a  sorry  time  for  some  one,  because  he 
is  as  quick  on  his  feet  as  a  cat,  and  can  han 
dle  his  fists  like  a  professional  prize-fighter. 
As  for  Clint,  he  would  never  bother  himself 
to  get  into  a  fight  nor  trouble  himself  to 
avoid  one.  Sam  and  he  are  firm  friends, 
and  would  make  an  extremely  awkward 
couple  in  a  street  fight.  This  seems  to  be 
generally  understood  by  all  the  people 
about  here,  and  very  few  persons  would 
care  to  provoke  a  quarrel  with  Sam  the  bar 
keeper  or  Butts  the  superintendent.  Nate 
is  a  regular  little  angel  of  peace.  No  one  can 
quarrel  with  him,  and  any  one  that  would 
try  would  bring  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  in  the  village  about  his  ears.  Nate  is 
also  very  useful ;  but  no  matter  how  busy  I 
keep  him,  he  always  finds  time  to  visit  the 
sick,  the  needy,  and  the  unfortunate,  and  to 
share  his  little  earnings  with  them.  A  bet 
ter  staff  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to 
find.  Sam's  advice  on  any  subject  is  gener 
ally  sound  ;  he  has  a  way  of  getting  directly 
at  the  facts  of  a  case.  And  Mr.  Butts  is  a 
prodigy  for  carrying  out  and  supplying 
mathematical  details  for  any  plan  I  may 
suggest.  But  when  I  pointed  out  to  the 


1 44  MOONBLIGHT. 

last-named  gentlemen  a  poor  wretch  whose 
necessities  had  compelled  him  to  accept  a 
position  as  a  sneaking  spy,  Sam  came  very 
near  forgetting  his  philosophy  and  Mr.  Butts 
his  disinclination  to  go  out  of  his  way  for  a 
fight.  For  a  moment  or  so  it  was  as  much 
as  Nate  and  I  could  do  to  prevent  the  two 
indignant  men  from  literally  wiping  up  my 
office  floor  with  the  frightened  Pinkerton. 
After  order  was  restored,  I  placed  the  detect 
ive  in  front  of  me,  and  as  I  did  so  I  was 
surprised  at  what  I  read  in  his  mind.  Why  ! 
professor,  I  could  see  crimes  enough  to 
hang  that  man  twenty  times.  As  his  tell 
tale  mind  called  up  each  incident  of  his 
past  career,  and  wondered  if  by  any  pos 
sible  means  I  could  be  aware  of  it,  of 
course  I  read  it,  and  by  means  of  a  few  ques 
tions  I  caused  the  mental  book  to  open  at 
pages  that  had  been  sealed  with  blood. 
For  a  moment  I  was  undecided  what  to  do. 
I  have  grave  doubts  whether  hanging  a  man 
does  him  or  the  country  any  good.  So  I  only 
exhibited  my  knowledge  in  a  few  remarks 
that  forced  the  criminal  so-called  officer  of 
the  law  to  turn  white  with  fright,  and  beg  me 
to  say  no  more  before  witnesses.  '  Sam, 
show  the  gentleman  to  the  door/  I  said  ;  and 


MOONBLIGHT.  145 

Sam  smilingly  complied,  bowing  with  mock 
politeness  as  he  opened  the  door  for  our 
prisoner's  escape,  and  motioned  him  with  a 
wave  of  his  hand  to  leave.  Not  only  did  the 
detective  leave,  but  he  did  so  on  a  run,  and 
made  a  bee-line  for  the  railroad  depot.  There 
being  no  train,  he  took  to  the  track,  and  the 
last  we  saw  of  him,  he  was  '  counting  the  cross- 
ties,'  as  Sam  expressed  it,  to  the  next  town. 

"  And  so  it  is  with  all  of  them.  As  soon 
as  I  show  a  knowledge  of  their  past  history, 
they  are  more  than  pleased  to  leave,  with  all 
possible  speed,  a  section  of  the  country  where 
it  is  apparent  that  their  real  past  is  known  or 
suspected.  As  you  may  imagine,  it  was  not 
long  before  my  enemies  began  to  find  great 
difficulty  in  securing  detectives  who  were 
willing  to  watch  me  for  evidences  of  insanity. 
After  a  while,  when  I  caught  a  spy  sneaking 
after  me,  it  was  only  necessary  to  look  him 
squarely  in  the  face  to  send  him  scampering 
away  like  a  coyote  pursued  by  hounds. 

"  Everything  I  said  or  did  was  weighed  for 
evidence  of  lack  of  rationality  ;  but,  what  is 
strange,  Messrs.  Keene, White,  and  Brown  will 
under  no  considerations  meet  me  to  talk  over 
this  or  any  other  matter;  they  all  three,  I  verily 
believe,  think  that  I  am  Satan  himself." 


CHAPTER  VII. 


HE  strike  had  come.    All  through 
the  coal  regions  work  had  ceas 
ed.     The  great  dark  holes 
no   longer  diurnally    swal 
lowed  up  and  vomited  forth 
strings  of  black-faced 
jj"|j  men  and  boys.    The  tin 
dinner-pails  ceased  their 
chain-like  clanking.   Ah, 
the  terrible  silence  of  a 
strike!      Ah,    the    hard 
ship,  privation,  and  suf 
fering  of  a  strike  !     Ah, 
the     bitter     disappoint 
ment,  the  gnawing  hun 
ger,  the  barren   despair 
of  a  strike!  Oh  the  cruel, 
cruel  power  of  a  corpora 
tion,  the    soulless,   grinding 
machine  which  coins  human 
blood  and  bone  into  gold  ! 

The  bleak  winter  wind,  as  it 
howls    about    the     mountain, 
blowing  the  cutting,  drifting  snow 

under  the   doors,  into  the  fireless 
146 


AH,  THE   HARDSHIP,  PRIVATION  AND   SUFFERING   OF  A   STRIKE  ! 


147 


148 


MOONBLIGHT. 


THE   LAW   LOCKS    UP   WHAT    A    LOVING 


rooms  of  the  miner,  is  less  cruel  than  the 
power  that  keeps  mountains  of  fuel  locked  up 
while  human  beings  die  for  lack  of  the  gen 
ial  warmth  that  lies  latent  in  the  unused  coal. 
Oh,  the  blasphemy,  the  sacrilege,  of  the  law 
that  locks  up  what  a  loving  God  has  created 
for  his  children  ! 

"The  people  of  the  cities  read  of  these 
strikes  in  their  morning  papers,  and  grum 
ble  at  the  inconvenience  it  causes  them, 
never  thinking  for  an  instant  that  a  strike  is 
the  last  feeble  effort  of  manhood  to  save  it 
self  from  hopeless  and  degrading  slavery. 
Why  will  not  people  use  their  brains,  and 
think?"  I  said  to  the  professor,  who  hap- 


MOONBLIGHT. 


149 


P  ^ C EJ1Q-5  OF  AUU 


GOD    HAS   CREATED    FOR    HIS    CHILDREN. 


pened  in  the  office,  as  he  explained,  to  get 
my  experiences  up  to  date. 

"Hold  on,  my  dear  fellow,"  answered 
my  friend.  "  You  must  not  require  that  of 
the  generality  of  people;  if  you  do,  you  are 
asking  more  than  even  your  occult  powers 
can  accomplish.  Thinking,  in  the  true  sense 
of  the  word,  gives  the  average  man  the 
headache.  I  used  to  try  to  make  my  boys 
at  college  use  their  brains,  and  I  can  tell 
you  truly,  that  in  a  class  of  fifty  I  am 
fortunate  if  I  have  two  thinkers  :  the  rest 
learn  like  parrots.  Most  men  do  the  same. 
Suppose  a  New  Yorker  begins  to  reason 
upon  what  passes  about  him — what  is  the 


150  MOONBLIGHT. 

consequence  ?  Perhaps  the  man  wonders 
why  the  policeman  is  allowed  to  sneak 
up  behind  a  licensed  peddler  near  Fulton 
Street,  in  your  great  city  of  New  York, 
and  kick  that  peddler,  one  brutal  kick  after 
another,  across  Broadway.  I  saw  that  my 
self.  The  man  thinks,  and  he  can  find  no 
solution  to  the  difficulty  ;  his  impulse  is  to 
ask  the  policeman  ;  but  he  is  afraid,  as  I  was 
afraid,  of  being  clubbed  and  sent  up  for 
ten  days  for  *  resisting  an  officer.'  And  so  the 
thinker  asks  his  friend,  and  his  friend  looks 
at  him  with  pity,  and  says,  '  I  hope  you  are 
not  going  to  turn  crank.' 

"That  frightens  the  ordinary  man,  and  he 
ceases  to  think,  because,  as  soon  as  he  uses 
his  brains,  he  finds  himself  separated  from 
the  crowd  ;  he  lacks  confidence  in  himself, 
and  argues  that  the  crowd  is  right.  Oh,  it 
is  much  easier  to  take  your  politics  from  the 
newspaper,  your  science  from  the  professors, 
your  religion  from  the  pulpit,  than  it  is  to 
study  for  yourself !  Remember,  my  dear 
boy,  it  took  a  book  on  '  Moonblight,' 
another  on  magic,  a  fit  of  indigestion,  and 
an  all-night  struggle  before  you  dared  see 
what  has  been  before  your  eyes  ever  since 
you  were  born. 


MOONBLIGHT. 


"  We  are  gregarious;  we  like  to  be  conven 
tional,  and  not  excite  remark.      What  man 
there    among    your    acquaintances    who 


is 


dares  even  to  eat  what  he  likes,  drink  what 


"THE  PEOPLE  TN  THE  CITIES   READ   OF  THESE  STRIKES   AND 
GRUMBLE   AT   THE   INCONVENIENCE   IT   CAUSES    THEM." 

he  likes,  or  dress  as  he  likes  ?  Not  one. 
The  man  who  did  so  would  be  considered  an 
idiot  or  desirous  of  creating  a  sensation  ;  or, 
what  is  worse,  he  would  be  looked  upon  as 


I  5  2  MOONBLIGHT. 

a  madman.  Conservatism  is  a  good  thing 
as  a  guard  against  unthinking  impulse  ;  but 
when  it  stands  in  the  way  of  reason  ;  when  it 
lumbers  up  our  churches,  filling  the  skin  of 
Christianity  with  a  stuffing  of  vile  paganism; 
when  it  binds  the  shackles  on  the  slave; 
when  it  bolsters  up  the  tyrant  and  evil-doer, 
conservatism  becomes  retrogression.  Just 
now,  we  are  on  the  retrograde ;  but  the  un 
dercurrent  is  gathering  strength  and  volume 
for  a  big  tidal  wave  of  public  opinion,  that 
will  come,  when  it  does  come,  with  an  irre 
sistible  force,  sweeping  everything  before  it. 
I  dread  these  tidal  waves  almost  as  much  as 
I  do  conservatism.  But  I  did  not  come  here 
to  lecture  :  I  came  here  to  learn.  Pardon  the 
interruption,  and  continue  your  story." 

"  Well,  the  strike  came,  and  is  still  here," 
I  continued ;  "  but  the  Moonblight  mines 
are  working  to  their  fullest  capacity.  New 
shafts  have  been  opened,  new  breakers 
erected,  and  every  improvement  for  facili 
tating  work  and  adding  to  the  comfort  and 
safety  of  the  men  that  Sam,  Mr.  Butts,  or 
I  myself  could  think  of  has  been  adopted.  I 
have  even  purchased  more  coal  lands  adjoin 
ing  those  already  worked.  The  happy  faces 
of  the  men  and  the  smiles  of  the  poor,  tired- 


MOONBLIGHT.  I  5  3 

looking-  women  are  worth  more  than  money; 
and  the  song  of  the  miner  and  the  sound  of 
his  pick  and  sho'vel  are  music  to  my  ears. 
But  it  is  painful  to  see  the  misery  of  the 
strikers  and  heartrending  to  see  the  want  and 
destitution  of  the  strikers'  families.  I  give 
employment  to  all  the  men  I  can,  but  it  is 
impossible,  even  if  I  were  to  bore  the  hills 
like  a  rabbits'  warren,  to  give  employment  to 
all  applicants.  My  men  deny  themselves, 
and  contribute  liberally  to  the  support  of 
their  unfortunate  brothers.  I  have  abolished 
the  company-store  system,  and  allow  those 
among  the  miners  who  wish  to,  and  are 
competent,  to  buy  out  the  shops,  and  run 
them  themselves.  I  divided  the  village  up 
into  regular  lots,  and  leased  them  under 
ninety-nine-year  leases  to  the  highest  bid 
ders  ;  and  such  was  the  boom  business  had 
that  there  was  a  corresponding  boom  in  real 
estate.  In  each  lease  I  incorporated  an 
agreement  to  the  effect  that  all  the  land-rent 
should  go  toward  public  improvements — 
schools  and  public  buildings.  Each  lease 
holder  also  holds  a  proportional  part  of  all 
public  buildings.  Every  five  years  a  new 
rent-rate  is  to  be  made.  In  other  respects  it 
is  about  the  same  sort  of  document  as  most 


154 


MOONBLIGHT. 


ninety-nine-year  leases  are,  with  the  vital  ex 
ception  that  all  land-rent  goes  to  the  public, 
that  is,  back  to  the  rent-payers  again  ;  and 
at  my  death,  the  village  or  town  through 
their  trustees  inherits  the  property. 

"  Thus  I  have  bound  myself,  while  alive, 


"HOWEVER  STRONG  AND  MIGHTY  THE  BEAST  MAYBE,  HE  CAN  IN 
THE  END  BE  CONQUERED  BY  THE  DIMINUTIVE  MICROBE." 

and  the  town  after  my  death  for  almost  a 
hundred  years  ;  and  I  hope  by  that  time  the 
success  of  the  scheme  will  be  such  that  the 
leases  will  be  renewed,  with  any  improve- 


MOONBLIGHT.  155 

ments  that  experience  may  suggest.  Sam 
started  a  building  association,  which,  like  all 
such  associations,  is  a  success.  Look  out  of 
the  window,  and  see  the  new  houses  going 
up !  These  men  have  something  to  live  for  ; 
they  see  comfort  and  education  for  their  lit 
tle  ones  and  rest  for  their  old  people.  The 
sale  of  liquor  on  my  property  will  nullify  a 
lease.  That  is  a  bit  of  arbitrary  power  I  have 
used  ;  but  after  the  reforms  are  permanently 
established,  I  am  inclined  to  think  it  will  be 
an  unnecessary  clause. 

"  Why  do  men  drink  ?  Only  to  procure  a 
temporary  relief  from  the  responsibilities  and 
cares  of  life.  That  the  jollity  and  mirth, 
which  should  be  spontaneous,  can  for  a  brief 
time  have  an  artificial  sway,  wine  is  neces 
sary  at  dinner.  It  is  used  as  a  drug  to  be 
numb  care  even  among  the  wealthy  or  well- 
to-do.  The  solution  of  the  temperance  prob 
lem  is  to  give  a  man  something  to  work  for. 
The  solution  of  the  religious  problem  is 
to  give  a  man  something  to  live  for.  Every 
man,  in  whatever  business  he  may  be,  is 
practically  a  mine  owner  or  a  miner.  We 
are  not  the  only  slave-drivers.  Our  slave 
system  is  more  evident,  but  no  more  real 
than  theirs." 


156 


MOONBLIGHT. 


"  Bravo  !     Bravo  !  "    cried    the    professor, 
rubbing  his  hands  with  delight. 

"The  cash  for  the 
leases  I  receive  is  imme 
diately  spent  upon  the 
draining  and  grading  of 
streets,  the  paving  of 
sidewalks  and  the  mak 
ing  of  parks.  Small  as 
the  village  is,  we  al 
ready  have  two  parks 
laid  out.  Listen  a  mo 
ment;  hear  the  sounds  of 
the  saw  and  hammer, 
Professor.  That  is  on  our 
school-house.  It  will  not 
be  long  before  the  little 
hamlet,  that  grew  like 
a  filthy  fungus  from  the 
mud  and  mire  surround 
ing  my  mines,  will  be 
come  a  beautiful  village. 
"  For  fear  that,  in  case 
of  my  death,  the  mines 
themselves  might  fall 
into  the  hands  of  some 
such  diabolical  combination  as  that  which 
shut  down  the  mines  of  ^Spring  Valley, 

*  See  "A  Strike  of  Millionaires  Against  Miners,"  by  H.  D.  Lloyd. 


THE    EDITOR. 

"OUR  SLAVE  SYSTEM  IS  MORE 
EVIDENT,  BUT  NO  MORE  REAL 
THAN  THEIRS." 


MOONBLIGHT.  157 

ruined  a  happy  village,  starved  the  in 
habitants,  and  stopped  their  incomes  that  it 
might  foreclose  the  mortgages,  I  have  caused 
to  be  recorded  a  grant  or  deed  which  allows 
the  miners  of  Moonblight  to  run  the  mines 
themselves  in  case  the  owner  should  refuse 
to  meet  a  board  of  arbitration  that  is  provid 
ed  for  to  decide  any  disputed  point  of 
wages.  Notwithstanding  all  these  grants, 
and  property  practically  given  away,  my 
mines  would  still  pay  me  large  dividends 
were  it  not  for  Messrs.  Keene,  White,  and 
Brown,  and  their  railroad  combinations." 

"  Well,"  exclaimed  my  companion,  "  I  fail 
to  see  any  cloud  in  the  bright  prospect 
before  you.  Your  town  is  growing  under 
my  very  eyes.  That  little  cottage  over  there 
by  the  park  has  a  roof  on  it  now,  and  as  I 
came  by  from  the  depot,  there'  was  only  a 
patch  of  shingles  on  one  side.  How  patri 
otic  you  are !  Almost  every  house  has  a 
United  States  flag  of  some  kind." 

"  Oh,  yes,"  I  replied,  "  that  is  a  suggestion 
from  Sam.  He  said,  and  rightly,  that  we  are 
following  out  the  true  American  principles 
of  giving  every  man  an  equal  opportunity, 
and  that  the  flag  stands  for  and  is  the  em 
blem  of  the  freedom  our  ancestors  fought 


158  MOONBLIGHT. 

for,  and  does  not  stand  for  '  vested  rights,'  as 
some  of  our  legislators  would  try  to  make 
us  believe,  any  more  than  the  teachings  of 
Christ  stand  for  the  modern  paganism  of  the 
churches.  Adopting  Sam's  hint,  I  have  tried 
to  make  my  men,  both  foreign  and  Amer 
ican  born,  understand  and  believe  that  that 
flag  is  the  symbol  of  the  rights  they  have 
so  long  struggled  for,  and  when  it  is  used 
to  represent  anything  else,  it  is  usurpation. 
This  helps  win  popular  opinion  and  senti 
ment.  We  claim  to  be  Americans,  and 
declare  that  all  oppressors,  no  matter  what 
their  birth  may  be,  are  not  Americans  because 
they  do  not  believe  in  the  American  princi 
ples. 

"  This,  professor,  is  the  bright  side,  and 
the  side  I  choose  to  look  upon ;  but  there  is 
a  shadow  wherever  there'  is  a  light,  and  in 
that  shadow  I  am  maligned,  called  a  crank, 
a  rascal,  a  fool,  a  schemer,  an  unprincipled 
speculator,  and  a  dangerous  agitator.  Mr. 
Keene,  in  most  scathing  language,  has  pre 
tended  to  show  how  I  am  planning  to  ruin 
all  the  other  companies  and  then  form  a 
trust  which  will  grind  the  laborer  further 
into  the  ground  than  before  my  so-called 
reforms  were  introduced.  I  continue  to 


TWO    DISTRACTED   MOTHERS    WERE    SOBBING   OVER   THE   LOSS 
OF   THEIR   LITTLE    ONES.    ONLY    GOD    AND   MOTHERS 
KNOW   WHY    THEY    MOURNED." 


1 60  MOONBLIGHT. 

ship  my  coal  and  keep  the  price  down  at 
the  usual  rates,  but  I  must  confess  that 
Messrs.  Keene,  Brown  and  White  in  a  meas 
ure  checkmate  me,  by  forming  a  railroad 
combination  which  takes  all  my  profits  in 
tolls. 

"  Gangs  of  foreigners  began  to  pour 
in  from  New  York — strange,  greasy,  dirty- 
looking  men,  many  of  them  wearing  sheep 
skin  coats  and  odd-looking  caps ;  none 
of  them  speaking  English.  These  hordes 
come  from  the  emigrant  ships  and  are  hired 
in  gangs  by  the  'laborer  broker.'  The  min 
ing  boss  passes  the  word,  *  Give  me  a  hun 
dred  men  at  the  same  price  as  the  last  lot,' 
to  the  broker,  who  is  a  cunning  fellow  and 
squeezes  a  commission  out  of  both  sides  for 
his  services.  By  dealing  in  men  by  the 
wholesale,  as  if  dealing  in'  potatoes  or  corn, 
one  is  able  to  get  wholesale  prices,  which 
are  much  cheaper  than  if  the  men  were 
bought  singly  or  in  '  blocks  of  five,'  and  the 
employers  save  quite  a  neat  sum  by  the  proc 
ess.  The  laborer  broker  goes  to  the  gang- 
master,  who,  as  soon  as  he  receives  the  order, 
loses  no  time  in  having  the  potatoes — excuse 
me,  the  men — ready  for  delivery. 

"  '  Huns',  my  miners  called  them, and  appar- 


MOONBLIGHT.  1 6 1 

ently  they  have  no  other  name,  either  per 
sonal  or  national;  if  they  possess  any  real 
name  it  is  known  only  to  themselves  and  the 
padrones. 

"Each  Hun  is  numbered  and  answers  to 
his  number  and  is  known  only  by  that  num 
ber. 

"  Clint  told  me  that  the  padrones  make  a 
good  living  by  securing  such  gangs  for  those 
who  want  them  on  short  notice;  and  evi 
dently  the  padrones  are  doing  a  flourishing 
business  during  the  strikes.  On  pay-day  the 
gang-master  is  there,  and  he  sees  to  it  that  no 
Hun,  be  his  name  Mr.  One  or  Mr.  One  Hun 
dred  gets  more  than  enough  to  keep  his  poor, 
shivering,  slavish  soul  inside  of  his  greasy, 
poverty-stricken  body.  These  men  are  to  be 
come  voters.  Did  I  say  voters  ?  No,  not  that; 
ignorant  as  they  are,  slavish  as  is  their  spirit, 
they  are  men,  and  could  they  vote,  the  vote 
would-be  that  of  freemen;  but  these  '  Huns  ' 
will  act  as  proxies  for  their  different  masters 
and  cast  their  master's  vote  in  numbers 
equal  to  the  number  of  slaves  on  the  plan 
tation — I  beg  pardon — miners  working  in  his 
mines. 

"  Things  looked  squally.  Each  car  that 
came  in  brought  a  load  of  '  Huns'  and  loads 


1 62  MOONBLIGHT. 

of  guns  carried  by  professional  cut-throats 
whom  any  one  in  this  "  Land  of  the  Free," 
who  has  the  money,  can  employ  to  shoot 
down  their  rebellious  slaves.  How  this  book 
of  Magus  plays  havoc  with  my  tongue ! 
What  I  should  say,  so  as  not  to  offend,  is — to 
protect  his  property  against  mobs  of  dissi 
pated,  whiskey-drinking  men,  who  dare  to 
claim  the  inherent  right  granted  them  by 
their  Creator  and  demand  the  privilege  of 
living  on  God's  great  earth,  which  some  of 
them  are  sacrilegious  enough  to  think  was 
intended  by  their  Creator  for  man's  use  and 
support. 

"  Black  clouds  of  Huns  covered  the  hills, 
and  black  clouds  of  despair  shaded  the 
brows  of  the  poor  strikers,  as  these  foreign 
herds  began  to  take  their  places  at  the  mines, 
and  eviction  followed  eviction,  turning  fam 
ily  after  family  out  into  the  cold,  bleak  win 
ter,  with  no  shelter,  no  hope,  and  no  place 
to  go.  Added  to  this  was  the  galling  fact 
of  the  presence  of  the  armed  guards  of  Pink- 
ertons.  I  could  not  help  asking  myself 
what  our  ancestors  would  have  done  under 
such  circumstances  ?  What  would  Abe 
Lincoln  have  said  ?  How  would  Thomas 
Jefferson  have  acted  ?  What  was  /  to  do  ? 


SPEECH    ON    FREE    LABOR,  DELIVERED    SEPTEMBER,   1859. 

WHAT  ABE  LINCOLN  DID  SAY.—"  I  hold,  if  the  Almighty  had  ever  made  a  set 
of  men  that  should  do  all  the  eating  and  none  of  the  work,  he  would  have  made 
them  with  mouths  only,  and  no  hands;  and  if  he  had  ever  made  another  class  that  he 
had  intended  should  do  all  the  work  and  none  of  the  eating,  he  would  have  made 
them  without  mouths  and  with  all  hands." 


164  MOONBLIGHT. 

"My  men  were  kept  quiet  only  by  keep 
ing  them  busy." 

"  Force  begets  force,"  said  Professor  Fol- 
lium.  "  Peaceful  methods  are  the  only  ones 
a  Christian  can  use  and  still  claim  to  be  a 
Christian.  A  chaplain  attached  to  a  regi 
ment  is  like  a  temperance  pledge  attached 
to  a  gin-mill  counter.  Force  is  the  argument 
of  the  robber,  the  bandit,  and  the  savage. 
A  thief,  a  burglar,  a  desperado,  is  always 
armed,  because  he  lives  by  force;  takes  what 
he  gets  by  force,  retains  what  he  has  by 
force,  and  in  the  end  dies  by  force." 

"  Yes,  professor,  that  is  about  the  way 
Sam  and  I  reasoned  it  out,  when  the  subject 
of  our  carrying  arms  was  broached.  As  for 
Clint,  he  never  bothered  his  head  about  it 
one  way  or  the  other.  Fear  is  a  word  which 
signified  to  him  something  that  makes  other 
people  commit  acts  that  to  him  are  incom 
prehensible. 

"  I  sent  Sam  among  the  strikers  to  do 
some  stump-speaking  and  to  advise  the  men 
to  throw  up  the  strike  at  once  and  resume 
their  places;  for  I  plainly  saw  that,  with  the 
opportunities  for  labor  locked  up  under  the 
silly  laws  of  the  country,  the  opportunity 
market  is  cornered;  while  the  labor  supply  is 


MOONB  LIGHT.  165 

practically  unlimited.  The  strike  must  be 
a  failure;  and  for  humanity's  sake  I  sent  Sam 
to  tell  them  how  hopeless  was  their  rebellion. 

"Sam  was  the  man  who  could  do  it;  he 
could  talk  in  a  language  they  could  under 
stand,  and  use  arguments  that  would  appeal 
to  them.  But  imagine  my  surprise  and 
chagrin  when  Nate  came  running  in  one 
day  to  tell  me  that  the  Pinkertons  had  made 
a  rush  to  capture  Sam,  calling  him  an  agita 
tor  and  a  ringleader  of  rioters;  that  the 
miners  had  defended  Sam  and  thrown  coal 
and  stones;  that  the  Pinkertons  had  fired  on 
the  crowd  and  killed  two  boys  and  wounded 
a  woman;  that  the  crowd,  being  reinforced, 
had  driven  the  Pinkertons  back. 

"  Here  was  a  situation !  And  as  I  read  the 
newspaper  accounts  the  next  day,  I  was  hor 
rified  to  find  that  Sam  was  designated  as  an 
anarchist  bar-keeper,  a  tough  and  desperate 
character,  and  that  warrants  were  out  for  his 
arrest. 

"  Clint's  '  fight '  had  come,  and  a  serious 
affair  it  was  !  Two  poor  stiff  little  forms  lay 
stretched  dead  in  two  wretched  miners'  huts; 
two  distracted  mothers  were  sobbing  over 
the  loss  of  their  little  ones.  Only  God  and 
mothers  know  why  they  mourned;  even  my 


1 66  MOONBLIGHT. 

spiritual  eyes  could  see  naught  before  them 
in  this  life  but  degrading  poverty,  bitter 
want,  drudgery  and  slavery.  But  none  the 
less  did  two  mothers  sob  and  refuse  to  be 
comforted;  two  black-faced,  black-handed, 
grizzly-headed  miners  ground  their  teeth 
and  clenched  their  fists,  but  shed  no  tears — ' 

"  All  because  you  sent -a  man  of  peace  to 
preach  peace  among  them,"  said  Professor 
Follium. 

"  No,  the  real  reason  was  because  the  as 
semblage  of  a  crowd  gave  the  combination 
an  opportunity  to  allow  that  gnome  Force 
to  have  his  way,  in  hope  that  it  would  cre 
ate  a  riot  and  turn  popular  opinion  on  their 
side,"  I  answered.  "As  for  Sam,  he  was 
safe  for  the  present  with  me,  for  no  detect 
ive  would  face  me.  They  think  that  I  am 
secretly  connected  with  their  infernal  bureau, 
and  by  private  means  keep  myself  posted 
on  their  misdeeds;  and  not  one  has  a  con 
science  clear  enough  or  the  courage  to  have 
his  acts  laid  bare  before  witnesses.  But 
more  trouble  was  in  store.  Clint  Butts  was 
accused  of  leading  the  reinforcements  that 
came  to  Sam's  rescue.  I  sent  for  Clint 
and  asked  him  if  it  was  true.  '  No,  sir,'  he 
replied,  and  I  dismissed  him.  I  then  sent  for 


MOONBLIGHT. 


i67 


Nate  to  ask  him  about  it;  but  he  came  run 
ning  in,  all  out  of  breath,  to  tell  me  that  Mr. 
Butts  was  in  trouble — that  he  was  attacked 
by  a  crowd  of  armed  men.  Snatching  my 


"  FORCE   BEGETS    FORCE."       THE    DETECTIVES    FAILED    TO    ARREST 


CLINT   BUTTS. 


hat  and  calling  to  Sam  to  follow,  I  rushed 
out  in  the  direction  taken  by  my  superin 
tendent;  for  I  knew  some  one  was  bound  to 
be  hurt  this  time. 


1 6  8  MOONBLIGHT. 

"'Here  comes  Buffalo  Bill!'  I  heard 
shouted.  '  Hurrah  for  Buffalo  Bill  of  Moon- 
blight  ! '  cried  a  group  of  youngsters,  as  I 
dashed  by,  my  hair  flying,  and  Sam  follow 
ing  close  behind.  We  were  none  too  soon, 
for,  as  I  turned  a  corner  of  the  new  school- 
house  that  I  am  having  built,  I  saw  Clint 
Butts  standing  on  the  scantling  frame-work 
in  front  of  the  unfinished  building,  with  two 
prostrate,  bloody  figures  at  his  feet,  and  three 
more  upright  men  staring  into  the  muzzle  of 
a  nickel-plated  revolver  that  glistened  in  the 
sun.  -It  was  a  splendid  group  for  a  show- 
poster  or  the  back  of  a  cheap  novel,  and  so 
still  were. they  all  that  they  might  have  been 
mistaken  for  wax  figures,  had  not  the  steel- 
gray  eyes  of  the  superintendent,  glinting 
through  their  fringe  of  long,  dark  lashes, 
moved  from  one  to  the  other  of  the  group 
of  three. 

"  '  Stand  back,  sir  !  They  are  armed  ! '  he 
cried  upon  seeing  me,  but  the  warning  was 
unnecessary,  for  Sam  had  noiselessly  come 
up  behind  them  and  snatched  the  pistols 
from  under  the  coat-tails  of  two  of  the  men. 
He  pressed  a  revolver  against  the  cheek  of 
one,  and  covered  the  second,  as  he  quietly 
said: 


MOONBLIGHT.  1 69 

"  '  Gentlemen,  throw  up  your  hands  !  The 
jack-pot  is  ours  !  It's  the  superintendent's 
next  deal ! '  Up  went  six  hands. 

"  '  Clint,'  I  exclaimed,  '  have  you  injured 
those  two  men  ? '  pointing  to  the  prostrate 
forms. 

"'No,  sir,  guess  not/  said  Clint,  with  a 
broad  smile,  as  he  still  covered  the  middle 
man,  while  Sam  proceeded  to  relieve  the  third 
of  his  revolver.  '  But  Sam  had  better  dis 
arm  this  one,  too/  said  Clint,  motioning  with 
his  foot  to  one  recumbent  figure,  '  for  he'll 
shoot  as  soon  as  he  comes  to/ 

"  Seeing  no  damage  done,  I  regained  my 
breath  and  composure  at  about  the  same  in 
stant,  and  recognized  the  men  as  being  Pink- 
erton  detectives.  The  blood  on  the  two 
prostrate  figures,  I  was  relieved  to  see/came 
from  their  noses,  and  one  look  at  Clint's 
brawny  fist  told  the  cause  of  the  bloodshed. 

"  '  Mr.  Butts/  I  said  sternly,  '  how  came  you 
with  that  pistol  ?  I  requested  you  not  to 
carry  arms  ;  did  I  not  ? ' 

"  '  Yes,  sir/  said  Clint,  still  smiling ;  for 
both  he  and  Sam  appeared  to  think  some 
thing  humorous  had  happened.  'Yes,  sir/ 
repeated  Clint;  '  but  this  pistol  was  paid  for 
by  your  friend,  Mr.  Keene,  and  sent  by  him  to 


I  70  MOONBLIGHT. 

me.  This  gentleman  here,'  bowing  and  smil 
ing  at  one  of  the  discomfited  fellows  at  his 
feet,  'was  kind  enough  to  present  it  to  me;  but 
he  awkwardly  enough  presented  it  cocked, 
with  the  muzzle  aimed  at  my  head;  and  had 
I  not  knocked  it  up  with  one  hand  while  I 
pushed  him  away  with  the  other,  I  fear  you 
would  have  been  minus  a  superintendent.' 

"  'Sam,'  said  Clint  in  a  commanding  tone, 
and  his  steel-gray  eyes  flashed  through  their 
black  lashes,  '  pile  up  the  arsenal  here  !  Now, 
you  sneaks,  when  I  say  attention,  stand  up 
like  men.  At-ten— SHUN  ! '  Up  stood  the 
five  men.  '  Right  dress,  eyes  front ! '  All 
eyes  were  fixed  on  Clint.  '  Will  you  step 
here,  sir?'  said  Clint.  I  instinctively  obeyed 
him,  as  the  detectives  had  done.  '  Good 
day,  sir,'  remarked  the  superintendent,  as  he 
handed  me  the  shining  revolver,  and  coolly 
proceeded  upon  his  way  to  the  mines,  leav 
ing  Sam  with  an  arsenal  of  weapons,  and  me 
in  command  of  a  squad  of  dejected-looking 
detectives. 

"  '  Gentlemen,'  I  said,  *  I  will  not  ask  you 
what  brought  you  here.  You  know  that  we 
carry  no  arms,  and  are  not  accustomed  to 
armed  visitors.  We  are  men  of  peace.' 
There  seemed  to  be  some  doubt  in  the  minds 


MOONBLIGHT.  I  J I 


of  the  desperadoes  about  this  announcement, 
but  they  discreetly  said  nothing.  '  Sam,  will 
you  please  unload  these  revolvers  ? — No,  stop ! 
This  man,'  said  I,  pointing  to  one  of  them, 
'fired  a  pistol  on  August  the  i2th,  1872,  and 
I  do  not  think  he  will  use  this  one  here,  with 
so  many  witnesses  present — -respectable  wit 
nesses,  mind  you,'  I  repeated,  because  by 
this  time  a  crowd  of  store-keepers  and  work 
men  had  collected.  The  man  to  whom  I 
spoke  turned  pale,  and  his  four  companions 
looked  curiously  at  him,  and  in  their  turn 
turned  pale  as  I  looked  at  them. 

"  *  These  other  four  gentlemen,  I  know, 
do  not  desire  me  to  name  their  little  es 
capades,  and  I  will  refrain  from  doing  so.  I 
will  simply  say  that  they  will  not  be  indis 
creet  in  the  use  of  their  weapons  ;  and,  as  the 
firearms  are  not  our  property,  Sam,  you  will 
kindly  restore  the.  revolvers  to  the  owners, 
loaded  as  they  are.' 

"  '  One  chamber  empty  in  this  one,  sir,'  said 
Sam  sententiously. 

"  'The  bullet  is  there,'  said  a  bystander,  as 
he  pointed  to  a  hole  in  the  new  plank  just 
over  the  spot  where  we  had  seen  Clint  stand 
ing  a  few  moments  before. 

"  '  Yes,  that  pistol  went  off  accidentally,' 


172  MOONBLIGHT. 

said  Sam.  'The  accident  part  was  when 
Clint  knocked  der  murderous  weapon  up 
wid  one  hand,  and  clipped  der  duffer  in  der 
nose  wid  der  other.  See  ?  But  what  I  don't 
understand,'  continued  the  bar-keeper,  un 
consciously  dropping-  his  barroom  slang,  as 
I  noticed  he  frequently  did,  '  is  why  the  others 
did  not  draw  their  guns.' 

"  '  They  didn't  have  time,'  said  the  same 
bystander.  '  One  of  those  men  went  up  be 
hind  Mr.  Butts,  and  put  his  hand  on  Mr. 
Butts's  shoulder,  and  w^as  just  about  to  say 
something  to  him  when  all  of  a  sudden  he 
dropped,  and  Mr.  Butts  was  facing  them  all. 
The  other  man  pulled  out  that  big  revolver, 
and  it  went  off  almost  as  soon  as  he  got  it 
out  ;  but  before  I  could  see  how  'twas  done, 
Mr.  Butts  had  the  revolver,  and  the  man  was 
down  alongside  the  first  one.  The  other 
three  had  their  hands  under  their  coat-tails. 
Then  Sam  came  running  over,  and  you  know 
the  rest.' 

" '  Gentlemen,'  I  continued  after  the  inter 
ruption,  '  here  is  your  property.  Take  it  and 
leave,  and  you  will  confer  a  great  favor  on 
me,  the  next  time  you  have  business  to  trans 
act  or  legal  papers  to  present,  if  you  will 
leave  your  arms  at  headquarters,  and  not 


MOONBLIGHT.  1 73 

present  your  pistol  before  presenting  the  pa 
per.  As  your  paper  does  not  concern  me,  I 
will  bid  you  good  day.' 

"Had  it  not  been  for  Sam  and  Nate,  the 
crowd  would  have  jeered  the  discomfited 
'  Slinkertons,'  as  Sam  styles  them.  Some  of 
the  small  boys  did  hurrah  for  Buffalo  Bill,  a 
name  irreverently  bestowed  upon  me  on  ac 
count  of  my  flowing;  locks.  The  Pinkertons 
left,  as  I  knew  they  would,  to  tell  their  com 
rades  stories  of  the  long-haired  detective  that 
'  was  onto  them  all,'  and  to  wonder  who  the 
individual  could  be  who  looked  like'a  cow 
boy  and  played  the  mine  owner's  part.  These 
men  had  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  Clint 
Butts,  but  they  did  not  show  it  or  mention 
it ;  in  fact,  never  a  word  did  they  utter,  but, 
taking  their  arms,  marched  off,  not  as  if  they 
had  been  whipped,  but  with  the  air  of  men 
who  had  misunderstood  orders,  and,  through 
no  fault  of  their  own,  had  got  into  some 
trouble  as  a  consequence.  They  were  evi 
dently  glad  enough  to  get  away  from  me  ; 
for  my  fame  was  now  firmly  established 
among  them  as  the  king  of  detectives." 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

HE  next  day  I  showed 
the  professor  all  the  new 
buildings,  the  new 
school-house,  the  parks, 
and  the  mines;  and 
Sam  and  Mr.  Butts 
were  delighted  with  an 
opportunity  to  explain 
all  the  details  of  their 
work  to  a  man  who  not 
only  could  understand 
their  explanations  and 
the  difficulties  over 
come,  but  could  ap 
preciate  their  success, 
whether  it  was  shown  in  a  building,  a  mine, 
or  the  formation  of  a  circulating  library. 

When  we  returned  to  the  office,  and  the 
professor's  pipe  was  lighted,  he  announced 
it  as  his  opinion  that  I  had  been  going 
through  some  incantation;  "For,"  said  he, 
"nothing  but  magic  could  produce  such  re 
sults  in  so  short  a  time." 

174 


MOONBLIGHT. 


"  Magic  it  is,  professor,"  said  Sam;  "and 
it's  real  old  Yankee-doodle  American  magic, 
too." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Clint.  "  My  employer  is 
truly  a  magician." 

"  Clint,"  said  I,  "  I  thought  you  were  too 
practical  to  stoop  to  a  compliment,  and  too 
much  of  a  materialist  to  use  such  a  term, 
even  in  joke." 

"The  real  materialist,"  interrupted  the 
professor,  "is  unconsciously  spiritual;  every 
experiment  of  his,  every  bit  of  knowledge 
he  acquires,  every  truth  or  partial  truth  he 
discovers,  aids  the  vision  of  the  spiritual 
eyes  of  such  as  use  them.  I  take  a  walk 
with  you  by  the  sea-shore;  the  old  ocean  rolls 
in,  in,  in,  one  roll  after  another  thundering 
on  the  beach;  the  blue  sky  overhead  is  re 
flected  in  the  mirror  of  water  below,  but,  on 
account  of  the  unevenness  of  the  waves,  the 
sea  is  a  deeper,  darker  blue  than  the  sky 
overhead;  the  distant  sails  look  like  flecks  of 
white  on  the  horizon,  the  sea-birds  like  snow- 
flakes.  This  much  we  see  together,  this  much 
we  enjoy  together;  but  here  it  ends.  What 
to  me  are  only  sails  on  the  horizon,  to  your 
nautical  eyes  are  schooners,  coasters,  yachts, 
and  pilot-boats;  what  to  me  is  only  a  dark- 


I  76  MOON  BLIGHT. 

blue  sea,  to  your  yachtsman's  eyes  is  a  stiff 
sailing  breeze;  what  to  you  is  only  a  sandy 
beach  is  to  me  the  wrecks  of  continents, 
ground  to  atoms,  and  the  atoms  polished 
like  gems  by  the  ceaseless  grinding  of  Old 
Neptune's  mill;  what  to  you  is  a  bit  of  shell, 
to  me  is  a  valuable  and  heretofore  mislaid 
page  in  Nature's  volume  of  Conchology; 
what  to  both  of  us  is  sky  and  water,  to  an 
artist  would  be  a  scheme  of  color.  In  other 
words,  we  each  '  have  eyes  and  we  see  not,' 
because  we  see  only  what  our  eyes  are  edu 
cated  to  see,  or  what  we  look  for.  You  point 
out  to  me  the  peculiarities  of  form  of  a  dis 
tant  sail,  and  I  notice  them  for  the  first  time. 
You  explain  to  me  that  such  a  rig  is  carried 
only  by  a  certain  style  of  craft,  and  the  next 
time  I  see  that  peculiar  cut  of  sail,  I  know 
what  sort  of  craft  it  is  off  on  the  horizon.  So 
I  learn  that  those  dark  spots  on  the  water 
are  squalls,  and  my  nautical  eyes  are  partly 
opened.  In  my  turn,  I  explain  the  action  of 
the  sea  in  wearing  away  the  shores  in  some 
places  by  undermining  the  cliffs  and  causing 
them  to  cave  into  the  water;  then/by  using 
the  fragments  to  grind  against  each  other, 
and  the  waves  as  motive  power,  with  time 
unlimited,  I  show  you  how  the  pieces  are 


MOONB  LIGHT. 


ground  to  small  fragments  called  sand,  and 
the  next  time  you  visit  the  beach  you  exam 
ine  a  handful  of  sand,  and  your  only  par 
tially  opened  eyes  will  detect  the  different 
rocks  and  the  quartz  which  originally  com 
posed  the  cliffs  or  shores  of  some  unchroni- 
cled  land.  So  the  materialist  unconsciously 
aids  the  vision  of  the  man  he  despises  as  a 
dreamer.  So  you,  my  friend,  have  partly 
opened  my  spiritual  eyes,  and  even  though 
I  see  things  but  dimly  through  the  green 
glasses  of  science,  still  the  green  glass,  by 
giving  a  oneness  of  color  to  all  objects,  sug 
gests  to  me  what  may  possibly  be  a  truth  to 
you;  that  is,  that  there  is  no  such  distinction 
as  natural  and  spiritual  laws.  Either  they 
are  all  spiritual  or  all  natural;  and  further 
more,  there  car.  be  but  one  Church,  and  that 
is  the  brotherhood  of  man;  and  but  one 
dogma  in  that  Church,  and  that  is  love  —  by 
love  meaning  the  sentiment  which  prompts 
us  to  worship  God  by  working  for  the  wel 
fare  of  others,  to  seek  to  benefit  and  give 
pleasure  to  others,  and  to  derive  our  own 
pleasure  from  so  doing.  But  these  things 
that  appear  so  plain  to  you  and  me,  are  only 
words  to  a  third  party;  the  fleck  of  white 
is  only  a  sail  to  him,  the  beach  is  only 


1 78  MOONBLIGHT. 

sand.     His   eyes    are   closed,  and   will   not 
open." 

"Ah,  no,  professor;  there  you  err.  He  of 
whom  you  speak  is  the  baser  metal,  and  to 
turn  him  into  pure  gold  you  must  have  the 
prima  materia  which  the  pigskin-covered 
book  tells  us  is  to  be  found  in  yourself: 
'Every  one  has  it,  from  the  beggar  to  the 
king.'  I  have  searched  for  that  lapis  phi- 
losophorum,  and  found  it.  So  have  you, 
but  you  were  unconscious  of  it.  It  is  love. 
With  love  you  can  make  the  blind  see;  love 
will  transmute  the  baser  metals  into  pure 
gold,  but  there  will  be  only  as  much  pure 
gold  as  there  is  '  essence  of  gold '  in  the 
baser  metal.  I  agree  with  you  in  most 
things.  You  have  aided  my  sight  most  won 
derfully,  and  unless  that  sight  betrays  me, 
there  is  but  one  thing  taught  from  the  begin 
ning  to  the  end  of  the  gospel,  and  that  is 
love.  You  expressed  it  in  your  talk  on  use. 
A  useful  man  is  the  only  religious  man.  All 
idlers  are  pagans,  whether  they  wear  the  garb 
of  the  Church,  the  millionaire,  or  the  tramp." 

"Thet's  der  kind  of  magic  that's  built  this 
place,  professor,  and  nary  a  blamed  preacher, 
barring  my  boss  and  myself,  in  der  town," 
said  Sam. 


MOONBLIGHT.  I  79 

"  What's  the  matter  with  me  ?"  said  Clint. 

"Well,  professor,  Mr.  Butts  is  one  of  der 
silent-preacher  kind  ;  he  don't  talk  much  wid 
his  mouth,  but  he's  great  on  a  prayer,  you 
bet !  Oh,  he's  a  one-er  when  it  comes  to 
praying  !  "  Sam  announced  enthusiastically. 

"  Why,  Sam,  you  wretch  !  I  have  not  said 
my  prayers  since  I  was  a  lad." 

"  Have  n't,  eh  ? "  replied  the  bar-keeper. 
"  Why,  you're  at  it  all  der  time.  You  pray 
thet  a  hole  shall  be  made  in  der  mountain, 
and  you  pray  wid  pick,  shovel,  gunpowder, 
and  surveying  implements.  And,  gewhilli- 
kens  !  Lo  !  there's  der  hole.  Prayer  answered; 
see  ?  Now,  take  all  those  make-believe  Chris 
tians  thet  pray  for  der  poor  people  on  Sun 
days,  and  work  all  der  week  to  make  them 
poorer,  what  is  their  real  prayer  ?  They  get 
down  on  their  marrow-bones  to  try  to  fool 
der  Good  Lord  on  Sunday,  and  pray  all  der 
week  by  their  work  just  der  other  way.  What 
a  man  works  for,  he  is  praying  for;  see  ?  What 
he  says  wid  his  mouth  don't  amount  to  noth 
ing  ;  thet  ain't  his  prayer.  In  a  whole  church- 
ful  of  people,  how  many  are  game  enough  to 
put  der  real  prayer  in  words,  so  thet  all  could 
hear  ?  'Bout  one,  I  reckon,  in  a  hundred." 

"  Come,   Sam,   don't    be  too  hard  on  the 


l8o  MOONBL1GHT. 

church  people,  for  I  intend  to  build  a  big 
church,  and  make  you  a  deacon  ;  and  all 
preachers  that  choose  to  come  here  shall  be 
allowed  to  preach  from  the  pulpit  of  that 
church,  and  say  just  what  suits  them.  But  no 
one  denomination  shall  ever  have  control. 
They  are  all  brothers,  or  they  are  not  Chris 
tians." 

"  Geewhiz  !  Let  der  bug  hop,  sir  !  I'm  in 
for  thet  church !  "  said  Sam,  as  we  all  parted 
for  the  night. 

Again  I  bade  farewell  to  my  genial  friend, 
the  professor  ;  the  only  one  of  my  former 
friends  that  I  have  seen  since  leaving  my 
yacht,  months  ago,  at  Port  Jefferson,  L.  I.  A 
feeling  of  sadness  crept  over  me,  as  I  saw 
my  learned  ally  board  the  train  to  continue 
his  lecturing  tour — a  feeling  of  loneliness  that 
I  could  not  dispel.  Moonblight,  in  spite  of 
the  snow,  in  spite  of  the  frost,  was  flourish 
ing.  Sleighbells  jingled  in  the  streets,  the 
merry  voices  of  children  could  be  heard  on 
the  hillsides,  as  their  heavily  loaded  sleds 
spun  down  the  icy  slopes.  The  American 
flag  floated  from  the  liberty-pole  in  the  park, 
and  the  smoke  that  came  from  the  cottage 
chimneys  told  that  there  were  warm  fires 
within  ;  but  I  was  alone  :  the  pleasant  greet- 


MOONBLIGHT.  1 8  I 

ings  I  received  from  each  passer-by  somehow 
failed  to  cheer  me,  as  I  tramped  back  through 
the  snow.  The  desolate  specter  of  the  strike 
seemed  to  leer  like  some  monster  over  the 
mountains,  and  with  hungry  eyes  to  threat 
en  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  our  little  vil 
lage.  I  knew  that  if  the  coal  companies  could 
by  any  means  crush  my  town  they  would  do 
so,  and  that  the  laws  of  the  State,  if  they  did 
not  uphold  them,  would  never  help  me.  I 
should  be  crushed,  law  or  no  law. 

The  air  was  crisp  and  cold,  the  snow  un 
der  foot  squeaked  and  crunched,  plainly  in 
dicating  that  every  drop  of  moisture  in  it 
was  transformed  into  brilliant  crystals,  and, 
as  a  gust  of  wind  would  blow  up  a  little 
cloud  of  snow,  and  twist  it  around  in  a  min 
iature  whirlwind,  the  icy  particles  glistened 
in  the  sun  like  a  shower  of  diamonds.  Christ 
mas  greens  decorated  the  shops,  but  the  dark 
clouds  of  doubt  and  helplessness  so  filled  my 
mind  that  the  invigorating  air,  the  merry 
voices,  and  the  Christmas  greens  were  un 
able  to  dispel  them.  I  reached  my  office- 
door,  turned  the  knob,  and  entered. 

Throwing  myself  into  an  office-chair  in 
front  of  the  dying  embers  of  the  fire,  I  did 
nothing  to  repel  the  attack  of  melancholy 


MOONBLIGHT.  183 

which  already  had  possession  of  me ;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  I  threw  open  the  gates  of  my 
mind  and  heart,  spiked  the  guns  of  hope,  and 
banished  all  cheerful  thoughts. 

Not  only  did  I  not  repel  the  enemy,  but  I 
gave  it  a  hearty  welcome,  and,  as  thousands 
of  people  are  doing  at  this  very  moment,  I 
coddled  and  warmed  the  invading  "blue 
devils  "  in  my  bosom  into  stronger  life — fed 
them  on  morbid  thoughts  until  they  grew 
fat. 

I  abandoned  myself  to  the  luxury  of  being 
perfectly  miserable. 

What  is  the  use  of  trying  to  do  right  ? 
Why  make  an  attempt  to  do  anything  differ 
ently  from  other  men  ? 

The  old  paths  are  the  safest  to  travel ;  they 
are  well  worn,  free  from  underbrush  and 
briers,  and  supplied  with  a  goodly  company 
of  jolly  traveling  companions. 

New  paths  are  guarded  by  unknown  mon 
sters  ;  the  ground,  strewn  with  sharp  stones, 
is  full  of  pitfalls;  thorns  and  briers  impede 
the  way,  but  fail  to  hide  the  bleaching  bones 
and  grinning  skulls  of  former  explorers. 

Why  not  return  to  my  old,  careless  life  in. 
New  York  City  ? 

Why?     Because  it  is  too  late — too  late.     I 


184  MOONBLIGHT. 

have  passed  that  stage  of  my  life's  journey, 
I  thought,  and  it  would  be  as  impossible  for 
me  to  return  to  it  as  it  would  be  to  PX>  back 

o 

to  my  twenty-first  birthday. 

I  imagine  the  utter  dreariness  of  gazing, 
day  after  day,  from  the  club  window  on  Fifth 
Avenue,  only  varying  the  monotony  by  an 


A    RED-FACED    OLD    CLU15MAN. 


occasional  Manhattan  cocktail ;  to  sit  and 
dawdle  with  my  glass  and  cigar,  and  watch 
the  toiling  mass  of  humanity  that  pass  the 
club  windows,  and  to  know  that  one  and  all, 
the  typewriter,  the  stage-driver,  the  clerk,  the 
fruit-vender  and  the  scavenger,  are  all  toiling 
to  supply  me  with  a  club  window,  cocktails 
and  the  companionship  of  some  red-faced, 


MOONBLIGHT.  I  8  5 

gray-haired  old  clubmen,  or  loose-jointed, 
big,  flabby,  white-faced  young  clubmen. 

No,  it  is  too  late;  and  the  company  of 
the  frost-headed  old  idlers  would  drive  me 
from  the  club-rooms,  while  the  sight  of  the 
helplessly  inane  faces  of  the  younger  men 
would  cause  me  to  wish  that  I  had  never 
been  born. 

Better  to  fight  my  fight  at  Moonblight  ; 
but,  oh,  how  lonesome  I  felt !  I  had  devel 
oped  great  affection  for  Sam  and  Clint,  but 
they  were  not  the  boon  companions  to  whom 
I  had  been  so  long  accustomed.  Oh  !  for 
some  one  to  whom  to  go  when  I  felt  tired  ; 
some  one  to  help  me  with  an  encouraging 
word  or  suggestion;  some  one  to — 

The  office  door  flew  open,  a  gust  of  bitter 
cold  air  and  Sam  rushed  in.  Sam's  dark  eyes 
were  snapping,  as  he  exclaimed  : 

"  Well,  sir,  there  is  the  devil  to  pay,  and  no 
mistake  ! " 

I  motioned  him  to  take  a  seat,  which  he 
did,  first  helping  himself  to  an  armful  of 
small  sticks  from  the  wood -box,  casting 
them  on  the  embers  in  the  wide-gaping  fire 
place. 

-Well?"  I  said. 

"  T  ain't  well  at  all,  sir ! "  and  Sam  gave 


1 8  6  MO  ONE  LIGHT. 

the  fire  a  vicious  punch  with  a  small  crowbar 
we  used  for  a  poker.  "  Them  Hessians — 
dod  rat  their  ornery  hides ! — "  and  the  bar 
keeper  banged  the  wood  such  a  blow  that 
the  sparks  went  flying  up  the  chimney. 

"  Well,  the  Hessians,  Sam,  who  are 
they?" 

"  Oh,  those  Slinkerton  detectives  who  have 
been  prowling  around  with  der  guns  as  if 
dey  were  wid  Stanley  in  Africa  !  Well,  one 
of  them 's  got  a  head  as  red  as  a  Japanese 
devil;  and  Big  Buck  Thornton,  he  laughed 
at  him,  called  him  Carrot  Top,  and  asked  him 
if  he  was  laying  around  looking  for  white 
horses.  With  that  all  the  strikers  by  the 
breaker  laughed,  and  it  made  the  Slinkerton 
so  mad  that  he  up  with  his  Winchester  and 
fired  into  the  crowd,  and.  killed — " 

"Whom?"  I  exclaimed. 

"  Another  woman,  of  course  !  "said  the  bar 
keeper.  "The  strikers,"  he  continued,  "are 
gathering  in  force,  and  swear  revenge.  All 
our  men  want  to  aid  the  strikers,  and  it  is  as 
much  as  Clint  and  I  can  do  to  keep  the  mines 
working.  Our  men  say  blood  is  thicker  than 
water  ;  the  strikers  are  their  brothers,  and 
our  miners  argue  that  to  keep  quiet  while  a 
band  of  hired  ruffians  shoot  down  their 


MOONBLIGHT.  187 

neighbors'  wives  and  children  is  simply  cow 
ardice.  Clint  and  I  have  put  on  extra  gangs 
of  men  wherever  we  could  find  room  for 
them,  and  we  are  doin'  our  best  to  keep  all 
hands  so  busy  that  they  will  not  have  time 
to  get  in  harm's  way.  But  there's  going  to 
be  trouble  over  there";  and  Sam  scowled  at 
the  mountains  that  separated  our  village  and 
mines  from  those  of  my  enemies  and  former 
associates. 

So  my  gloomy  forebodings  were  not  with 
out  cause.  However  odd  it  may  appear, 
now  that  trouble  was  in  sight  I  felt  a  strange 
reaction  and  a  certain  gay  buoyancy  of  spirit 
as  I  listened  to  Sam's  narrative.  As  the  real 
trouble  approached,  the  gloomy  forebodings 
fled. 

A  week  passed,  and  the  subdued  grum 
blings  of  the  strikers  could  be  heard  every 
where.  A  mass-meeting  was  held,  and  the 
Pinkertons  denounced  as  murderers.  This 
incendiary  language  being  reported,  the 
sheriff  demanded  assistance,  and  the  gov 
ernor  of  the  commonwealth  ordered  out 
the  militia:  they  were  even  now  expected, 
Sam  informed  me.  The  words  had  barely 
escaped  his  lips  when  I  heard  the  drums,  and, 
to  my  horror,  they  sounded  as  if  they  were 


1 88  MOON  BLIGHT. 

marching  through  Moonblight.  Next,  I 
heard  hooting  and  shouting. 

Snatching  my  hat,  I  rushed  out,  to  behold, 
marching  up  toward  the  main  street  of  the 
village,  a  regiment  of  our  State  Guards,  sur 
rounded  on  all  sides  by  a  mob  of  women  and 
children. 

As  I  approached  nearer,  I  could  could  see 
that  most  of  the  soldiers  were  young  fellows 
with  smooth  faces;  but  among  the  officers 
were  a  few  grizzled  men,  upon  whose  breasts 
hung  the  bronze  star  worn  by  veterans  of 
the  late  civil  war.  Hastening  up  to  one  of 
them,  whose  shoulder-straps  proclaimed  him 
to  be  the  colonel,  I  touched  my  hat,  and, 
walking  by  his  horse's  side,  asked  him  if  he 
could  not  march  his  regiment  by  some  other 
route,  calling  his  attention  to  the  wild,  half- 
scared  looks  with  which  his  boyish  soldiers 
viewed  the  screaming  mob.  I  told  him  that 
I  feared  some  accident  would  cause  an  out 
break  in  my  peaceful  town. 

The  colonel  was  courteous,  as  are  all  vet 
erans,  and  replied  that  his  judgment  agreed 
with  mine,  but  that  he  had  positive  orders 
to  move  his  men  as  he  did.  My  enemies  had 
political  influence,  and  were  using  it,  it  was 
evident,  to  tempt  my  men  to  riot. 


NEW    PATHS. 

THORNS  AND  BRIERS  IMPEDE  THE  WAY,   BUT    FAIL- 
TO  HIDE  THE  BLEACHING  BONES  AND  GRINNING 
SKULLS    OF    FORMER    EXPLORERS. 
I89 


MOONBLIGHT. 

A  piece  of  ice  came  whizzing  by  the  colo 
nel  and  me;  and  as  we  turned,  in  alarm,  an 
other  piece  struck  the  color-sergeant,  and  he 
fell  forward.  It  was  the  work  of  some  boys, 
and  I  rushed  into  the  crowd  to  stop  them.  A 
gang  of  miners,  with  their  pails  in  hand,  were 
just  above  us  on  the  path,  watching  the  pa 
rade.  I  had  only  time  to  notice  this  when  I 
heard  a  shot,  another,  then  an  irregular  vol 
ley,  followed  by  screams  and  curses.  I  saw 
the  old  colonel,  sword  in  hand,  shouting  to 
his  men;  I  saw  the  miners  rushing  toward  us; 
then  I  felt  a  sudden  blow  in  my  side,  and, 
turning  around  to  see  who  had  struck  me,  I 
was  astonished  to  find  myself  alone.  When 
I  removed  my  hand  from  the  spot  where  I 
had  felt  the  blow,  it  was  covered  with  blood  ! 
I  was  shot ! 

Yet  at  first  I  felt  no  inconvenience,  except 
a  numb  sensation  where  the  bullet  entered. 

Meantime,  the  riot  was  at  its  height.  I  saw 
one  woman  pull  off  her  stocking:  there  was 
blood  on  it;  but  there  was  more  on  it  before 
the  day  was  over;  for,  slipping  a  round  lump 
of  coal  in  the  foot,  and  tying  a  knot  in  the  leg 
of  the  stocking,  she  used  her  hose  as  a  war- 
club  with  terrible  effect  upon  the  heads  of 
the  soldiers. 


MO  ONE 'LIGHT.  1 9  I 

The  worst  had  come.  I  knew  not  what  to 
do.  My  shouts  were  unheeded.  I  was  sur 
rounded  by  demons — not  human  beings. 
Every  eye  was  staring,  each  hand  grasped 
whatsoever  weapon  came  handy,  and  with 
only  one  purpose — to  kill.  Another  shout, 
and  a  band  of  detectives  came  dashing  down 
the  street  with  their  Winchesters.  The  broken 
ranks  of  the  State  troops  reunited. 

I  saw  the  little  humpbacked  figure  of 
Nate  bending  over  a  wounded  woman.  I 
saw  a  burly  detective  level  his  revolver  and 
fire,  and  the  lad  drop.  The  next  instant  a 
square-faced  man,  with  heavy,  bull-dog  jaws 
and  a  black  mustache,  appeared.  Although 
apparently  unarmed,  he  walked  slowly  up  to 
the  detective,  without  any  show  of  excite 
ment.  I  shouted,  but  my  voice  was  weak, 
and  I  could  not  rise  from  the  sitting  posture 
I  had  unconsciously  assumed. 

The  detective  evidently  was  under  the  im 
pression  that  the  man  meant  to  surrender  ;  but 
the  impression  was  of  short  duration.  I  heard 
Clint's  familiar  voice  say,  "Take  that,  you 
cowardly  Hessian  !  "  And  the  representative 
of  private  enterprise  and  the  lack  of  law  doub 
led  up  from  an  unexpected  blow  in  the  abdo 
men,  only  to  receive  an  upper  cut  in  the  face. 


1 9  2  MOONBLIGHT. 

11  Down  with  the  Hessians  !  "  cried  another 
voice;  and  Sam,  the  bar-keeper,  ran  to  Clint's 
side. 

My  head  swam;  but,  with  an  almost  super 
human  effort  I  gained  my  feet  and  stagger 
ed  toward  my  men. 

"  Colonel !"  I  shouted,  "Colonel !  for  God's 
sake,  stop  the  firing  !  They  are  killing  inno 
cent  people ! " 

At  last  I  wras  noticed,  and  my  men  became 
quiet.  The  colonel  got  control  of  his  reg 
iment,  but  the  detectives  had  not  yet  played 
their  part ;  for  they  meant  that  there  should 
be  a  riot  at  Moonblight,  and  they  had  no 
intention  of  allowing  it  to  subside  until  it 
had  reached  an  important  magnitude.  Riots 
are  their  stock  in  trade ;  without  them  their 
calling  is  gone,  and  here  was  an  opportunity 
not  to  be  missed.  At  the  same  time,  they 
had  a  number  of  old  scores  of  a  personal  na 
ture  to  settle  with  both  Clint  and  Sam,  and 
no  sooner  were  my  aids  recognized  by  the 
detectives  than  a  grand  rush  was  made  to 
capture  them  as  "  ringleaders." 

The  bar -keeper  and  the  superintendent 
were  standing  side  by  side,  alone,  and  only 
a  short  distance  ahead  of  me. 

"  Fire  one  shot,  move  one  step,  and  we  will 


THE  WOMAN'S  WAR-CLUB. 


194  MOONBL1GHT. 

blow  the  whole  durned  lot  of  you  to  hell !  " 
shouted  Sam;  and  I  saw  the  two  friends  each 
take  a  couple  of  oblong  packages  from  their 
pockets. 

"Dynamite!  Clint!  Sam!"  I  cried;  then 
reeled.  The  troops  and  the  rioters  ran  in 
circles  around  me  ;  the  earth  heaved,  and 
struck  my  face — I  saw  no  more. 


The  grizzled  old  colonel  sat  with  Sam  and 
Clint  on  the  ground,  and,  with  the  aid  of  the 
colonel's  sword,  they  cut  up  a  detective  into 
square  pieces.  Clint  used  these  to  build  a 
wall  with  ;  it  took  the  united  strength  of  the 
three  to  lift  some  of  the  stones  in  place.  I 
was  deeply  interested  in  the  operation,  when 
one  of  them  turned  to  look  at  me.  It  was 
not  the  colonel,  Sam,  nor  Clint,  it  was  Mr. 
Keene,  in  immaculate  collar  and  cuffs. 

He  and  his  associates  placed  the  pieces  of 
flesh — it  was  Humpy's  flesh — into  the  letter 
press,  and  squeezed  out,  not  blood,  but 
gold,  which  they  divided  amongst  them 
selves.  How  they  watched  each  other  !  How 
disgraceful !  Without  exception,  each,  as 
opportunity  offered,  helped  himself  from  his 
neighbor's  pile. 


MOONBL IGH  7\  195 

I  was  mistaken;  for,  after  all,  it  was  only 
a  group  of  chickens  eating  corn  in  the  back 
yard  of  the  old  farm  in  Ohio.  Oh,  no;  I  was 
not  in  the  least  alarmed,  for  how  could  the 
old  rooster  reach  me,  and  I  safe  in  the  second 
story  and  the  window  down  ? 

But,  horror !  the  old  cock's  neck  began 
to  stretch;  it  grew  longer  and  longer;  the 
head  reached  the  window,  and  the  great, 
blazing  eye  peered  in  at  me.  Grandmother 
came  into  the  room  just  in  time,  and  the 
neck  receded  and  the  head  disappeared. 

If  Grandmother  would  only  come  to  my 
bedside,  and  smooth  my  pillow,  instead  of 
standing  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  room, 
and  reaching  her  long  arms  across  the  bed 
chamber,  I  would  not  be  afraid  of  her. 

Professor  Follium  came  in,  and,  breaking 
open  two  dynamite  cartridges,  he  poured  the 
contents  into  the  binnacle  light,  took  out  his 
watch,  looked  at  it,  then  examined  the  min 
ing-pumps  I  had  in  my  wrist.  I  told  him 
that  one  needed  a  new  valve,  and  he,  say 
ing  that  Clint  would  attend  to  that,  asked 
me  to  have  a  drink  with  him.  I  called  the 
steward,  and  he  brought  us  two  glasses  of 
wine.  Then  the  professor  examined  the 
pumps,  and  again  looked  at  his  watch, 


I  96  MOONR LIGHT. 

smiled,  left  the  cockpit,  and  disappeared 
over  the  stern.  The  wine  had  a  soothing 
effect,  and  I  think  I  must  have  fallen  asleep 
and  slept  soundly  until  I  was  conscious  of  a 
faint  perfume  greeting"  my  nostrils — a  per 
fume  so  faint  that  I  was  not  sure  it  did  not 
emanate  from  my  imagination;  yet  it  was  a 
strangely  familiar  perfume.  It  took  me  back 
to  the  city,  to  the  theatre,  to  the  ball-room, 
to  a  certain  particular  ball-room,  and  I  re 
membered  the  hostess  and  all  the  guests. 

I  remembered,  and  I  felt  a  blush  crimson 
my  face  as  memory  brought  up  the  conserv 
atory,  the  tropical  plants,  the  rare  flowers, 
the  strange  caged  birds.  But  it  was  not  the 
plants,  the  flowers,  or  the  birds  that  made 
me  blush:  it  was  the  sight  of  a  girlish  face, 
a  slight,  girlish  figure,  and  two  lustrous  dark 
eyes  that  looked  timidly  into  mine  as  the 
hostess  presented  me. 

This  was  the  girl  I  was  too  cowardly  to 
see ;  this  was  the  girl  whose  true  heart  had 
never  doubted  mine  through  all  my  unac 
countable  absence;  and  I  felt  the  warm  blood 
suffuse  my  face  again  for  shame  that  I  could 
ever  have  been  afraid  to  see  her  as  she  really 
was. 

The  perfume  grew  more  apparent.     I  im- 


MOONBLIGHT. 


197 


agined  that  I  felt  a  soft,  caressing  hand 
stroke  my  hair.  I  was  dreaming,  for  I  heard 
my  name  repeated  twice.  It  was  a  pleasant 
dream,  and,  looking  up,  I  beheld  those  same 
lustrous  eyes,  the  same  timid  look,  the  same 
girlish  face;  and  then  the  voice  said: 

•"  Do  you  know  me,  dear  ?  There — don't 
speak  !  "  And  a  slender  white  finger  was 
placed  upon  my  lips.  The  delirium  was  over, 
and  I  was  making  my  long-postponed  visit 
at  her  house. 


SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE 


SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE. 


rn  OMETHING  unac 
countable  had  hap 
pened.    A  hand,  a 
real,  live  hand,  in  a 
long  lace  mitten 
that    allowed    the 
tapering  white  fingers 
with  their    pink    tips    to 
show,  reached  out  of  the 
surrounding  haze. 

To  say  that  I  was  as 
tonished  is  to  describe  in 
very  mild  terms  the  daz 
ed  state  in  which  I  sat 
and  stared.  Left  alone 
in  my  studio,  I  had  been 
examining  some  new 
treasure-trove  in  the 
shape  of  small  household 
articles,  mementos  of  the 
home  life  of  the  last  century,  which  it  had 
been  my  good  fortune  to  rescue  from  junk 
and  attic  rubbish. 

Thanks  are  due  the  Cosmopolitan  Publishing  Company  for 
kind  permission  to  reprint,  from  their  magazine,  the  illustrations 
which  accompany  this  story. 


2O2  SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE. 

From  my  earliest  boyhood  ancient  wearing- 
apparel,  old  household  and  kitchen  utensils, 
and  antique  furniture  have  appealed  to  me 
with  peculiar  force;  telling  facts,  and  relating 
incidents  in  such  a  plain,  homely,  but  graphic 
manner  of  the  every-day  life  of  our  ances 
tors,  that  I  look  upon  them  more  as  text 
books  than  as  curiosities;  for  it  is  only  by  the 
light  of  truth,  reflected  from  these  objects, 
that  we  are  enabled  to  brush  away  the 
romance  that  tinges  the  most  ordinary  facts, 
or  pierce  the  rose-hued  atmosphere  of  fiction 
with  which  the  perspective  of  years  sur 
rounds  the  commonest  objects  of  those  re 
mote  times. 

My  antique  frying-pans,  toasters,  and 
waffle-irons  all  have  very  long  handles;  the 
andirons  of  the  same  date  rear  their  massive 
brass  heads  several  feet  above  their  strong 
wrought-iron  cross-bars. 

How  plainly  these  things  tell  us  of  the 
great  log  fires  that  roared  in  their  ample  fire 
places,  in  the  brave  old  days  of  our  great- 
grandsires !  How  the  reflected  flames  must 
have  glistened  in  the  polished  brass  knobs 
on  the  andirons,  and  cast  a  warm  glow  on 
the  powdered  wigs  of  courtly  dames,  sparkled 
on  the  hilts  of  young  gallants'  swords,  and 


SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE. 


20. 


'HOW  PLAINLY  THESE  THINGS  TELL 
US  OF  THE  GREAT  LOG  FIRES  THAT 
ROARED  IN  THE  AMPLE  FIRE- 

PLACES!" 


flushed  the  pretty  faces  of 
maids  in  their  finery  of  stiff 
pointed  waists  and  rich  flow 
ered  brocades ! 

I  had  been  gazing  especial 
ly  with  a  gratified,  satisfied 
sense  of  ownership  at  what 
I  considered  the  gem  of  my 
find  —  an  old-fashioned  foot- 
stove. 

This  is  not  the  ordinary  tin 
box,  such  as  one  finds  among 
the  carefully  preserved  relics 
of  any  well-cared-for  colonial 
homestead.    It  is  a  foot-stove 
of  more  than  ordinary  beauty 
of   form   and   make.    The 
square    box    that 
forms    the    stove 
proper    is  of   iron, 
hammered  by  hand 
into  thin  sheets,  the 
top  an  d   sides  of 
which  are  perforated 
with  small  holes  ar 
ranged  in  complicat 
ed    and    intricate 
designs,    while    the 


2O4  SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE. 

framework  which  holds  the  box  is  made  of 
quaintly  carved  mahogany.  The  door  forms 
one  side  of  the  stove,  and  it  stood  open, 
showing-  within  the  metal  cup  that  still  held 
the  ashes  of  coals  which  had  glowed  and 
burned  over  a  hundred  years  ago.  I  ob- 


. 

"THE    DOOR    FORMS    ONE    SIDE  OF   THE   STOVE,   AND  IT  STOOD  OPEN, 
SHOWING   WITHIN    THE   METAL   CUP." 


served  the  top  crosspieces  of  the  wooden 
frame  were  worn  in  their  middle  to  thin 
strips  by  the  generations  of  feet  that  had 
warmed  their  toes  over  the  hot  embers. 

You  know  when  you  look  continuously 
and  intently  at  one  object  for  a  long  time, 
all  your  surroundings  will  become  misty,  in- 


SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE.  205 

distinct,  and  finally  disappear.  That  was  the 
way  with  the  old  foot-stove,  as  I  gazed  at  it. 

Down  a  hundred  feet  or  more  below  me, 
Broadway's  rumbling,  bustling  tide  was  be 
ginning  to  ebb.  The  orange-colored  gas-jets 
had  commenced  to  glimmer,  and  the  purplish 
glare  of  the  fierce  electric  lights  made  sput 
tering  nebulae  in  the  misty  rain.  But  of  this 
I  seemed  to  be  aware  through  an  interior 
sense,  for  all  my  powers  of  physical  sight 
were  occupied  in  watching  a  most  wonderful 
occurrence — a  hand  had  reached  out  of  the 
haze  surrounding  my  foot-stove,  and  taken 
the  metal  cup  from  the  open  door,  and  van 
ished. 

I  can  scarcely  expect  my  readers  to  believe 
this,  and  I  hardly  believed  the  evidence  of 
my  own  eyes — but  there  was  my  foot-stove 
empty.  A  circular  mark  in  the  dust  covering 
the  rusty  iron  floor  of  the  stove  alone  bore 
witness  of  the  recent  presence  of  the  metal 
cup. 

I  sat  and  stared  blankly  until  aroused  by 
the  presence  of  the  same  beautiful,  delicate, 
feminine  hand,  which  replaced  the  iron  cup 
in  the  stove,  closed  and  latched  the  door,  and 
melted  away.  Thin  threads  of  blue  smoke 
streamed  through  the  perforations  of  the  iron 


206 


SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE. 


box,  like  incense,  and  I  was  conscious  of  the 
odor  of  burning  wood  that  awakened  mem 
ories  of  an  old  Kentucky  log-house,  familiar 
to  my  boyhood;  but  the  house  was  forgotten 


"A  HAND  HAD  REACHED  OUT  OF  THE  HAZE  SURROUNDING  MY 
FOOT-STOVE  AND  TAKEN  THE  METAL  CUP." 

when  I  saw,  materialized   from  the  cloudy 
haze,  a  foot — oh,  such  a  dainty  foot ! 

The  quaint,  red  silken  shoe  that  incased 
this  new  visitor  was  latched  over  the  instep 
with  a  silver  buckle,  and  the  shoe  had  the 


SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE.  2O/ 

highest  of  high  heels.  The  slender  ankle, 
with  its  silken  hose,  that  faded  away  in  the 
surrounding  mists,  or  was  modestly  hidden 
by  the  filmy  lace  of  an  overhanging  skirt, 
was  as  delicate  as  the  fairy  foot  in  its  quaint 
ly  shaped  shoe,  that  now  rested  on  the  top 
of  the  well-worn  crosspiece  of  the  ancient 
foot-warmer. 

There  were  two  feet,  as  I  could  plainly 
see,  side  by  side,  absorbing  the  genial  heat 
that  filtered  through  the  perforations  from 
the  glowing  coals  inside  the  box,  but  they 
apparently  remained  only  a  sufficient  time  to 
assure  their  owner  that  the  coals  inside  were 
warm  and  bright:  then  they  were  gone,  and 
I  heard,  or  thought  I  heard,  the  rustling  of  a 
stiff  gown  and  skirts. 

The  hand  was  now  again  visible,  this  time 
covered  with  a  red  woolen  mitten,  and 
grasping  the  handle  of  my  foot-stove  it  lifted 
it  from  the  floor  and  moved  off. 

But  all  these  unaccountable  and  wonder 
ful  occurrences  were  not  sufficiently  startling 
to  blind  me  to  the  fact  that  my  much-prized 
antique  was  about  to  be  taken  away  from 
me.  It  was  not  my  desire  to  break  the  con 
tinuity  of  such  wonderful  occurrences  by  any 
rash  act;  but  the  loss  of  my  treasure  was  not 


208 


SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE.    ' 


to  be  contemplated,  and  even  the  knowledge 
that  it  was  in  the  possession  of  such  fasci 
nating  hands  and  feet  did  not  prevent  me 
from  hastily  rising  to  follow  it. 


THERE   WERE   TWO    FEET,    AS   I   COULD    PLAINLY   SEE, 
SIDE   BY    SIDE." 

My  memory  fails  to  recall  how  it  was  we 
reached  the  ground,  without  descending  the 
long  flight  of  stairs  in  the  building.  How 
ever,  I  was  presently  conscious  of  walking 


SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE.  2 09 

over  uneven  and  unfamiliar  pavements,  to 
tally  different  from  Broadway. 

Right  in  front  and  but  a  short  distance 
ahead  of  me  tripped  the  red  silken  shoes, 
their  high  wooden  heels  tinkling  over  the 
frozen  ground.  Presently  my  attention  was 
arrested  and  my  wonder  increased  by  meet- 
ingapair  of  yellow-topped  boots,  that  I  at  once 
recognized  as  a  pair  that  I  had  left  hanging, 
along  with  some  buckskin  trousers,  upon  my 
studio  wall.  I  knew  them  at  a  glance,  and 
their  identification  was  complete,  when  I  saw 
the  new  heels  which  I  had  had  put  on  them, 
and  the  tear  in  the  top  of  one,  made  by  the 
struggles  of  a  fat  model  in  his  frantic  efforts  to 
pull  the  boot-leg  over  his  bulky  calf.  (The 
leather  in  these  ancient  foot-coverings  is  so 
dry  and  brittle  that  unless  great  care  is  taken, 
it  will  tear  like  paper.) 

I  have  always  regarded  these  old  boots 
with  a  feeling  akin  to  awe,  imagining  that 
they  must  have  been  worn  by  some  pow 
dered  and  buckled  hero,  like  the  "  old-fash 
ioned  Colonel,"  who  "  galloped  through  the 
white  infernal  powder  cloud,"  but  if  they  had 
been  upon  the  feet  of  a  country  bumpkin, 
they  could  scarcely  have  appeared  to  worse 
advantage  than  they  did  as  they  hesitated 


2  JO  SIX  FEE  7^  OF  ROMANCE. 

and  halted  beside  the  little  red  shoes.  With 
toes  turned  in,  the  boots  shuffled  uneasily 
about,  almost  tripping  over  each  other  in 
their  embarrassment.  , 

There  is  a  witchery  about  a  beautiful 
woman  that  envelops  her  like  a  mantle, 
reaching  and  covering  even  her  feet.  It  is, 


"MY   WONDER   WAS    INCREASED    BY   MEETING  A    PAIR   OF 
YELLOW-TOPPED   BOOTS." 

in  fact,  as  if  she  were  surrounded  by  a  pe 
culiar  atmosphere,  which  not  only  obscures 
or  hides  all  defects  of  mind  or  body,  but  at 
the  same  instant  brings  into  greater  promi 
nence  all  her  exquisite  loveliness. 

It  was  probably  a  perception  of  this  that 
made  the  boots  so  self-conscious.  As  for  the 
high-heeled  shoes,  they  behaved  in  a  most 


SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE. 


coquettish  manner,  which  apparently  only 
tended  to  heighten  rather  than  impair  their 
charm. 

However  that  may  be,  the  rarest  old  cos 
tume  in  America  could  not  have  tempted  me 
to  stand  in  those  old  boots. 

The  greeting  over,  the  two  pairs  moved 
off  together,  and  I  followed  after  them,  hav 
ing  now  a  double  interest — a  pair  of  boots 
and  a  foot-stove.  True,  the  boots  are  old 
and  worn:  one  is  a  duplicate  of  the  other,  or, 
as  a  shoemaker  would  say,  they  are  not 
''rights  and  lefts."  The  toes  are  bluntly 
pointed  and  stiff,  but  I  know  of  no  other 
boots  of  the  same  make  and  date,  and  that 
is  the  reason  they  are  dear  to  me. 

They  did  not  appear  to  be  in  the  least 
dear  to  those  little  reckless  feet  in  the  red, 
buckled  shoes,  and  I  made  a  mental  note,  as 
they  tripped  carelessly  on,  how  the  high 
heels  prevented  the  small  feet  from  touching 
aught  but  their  toes  to  the  earth,  while  the 
great  broad-soled,  pointed-toed,  square-heel 
ed  boots  moved  along  humbly  and  awk 
wardly,  slap  !  slap!  slap!  beside  their  tiny 
companions. 

The  amount  of  emotion  and  thought  that 
can  be  expressed  by  feet  was  a  revelation 


212 


SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE. 


to  me.  Such  graphic  expression  of,  not  only 
character,  but  incident  and  feeling  as  well, 
gave  an  additional  interest  to  this  strange 
adventure,  and  the  interest  grew  to  excite 
ment  when  I  saw  a  pair  of  Wellington  boots 


"I    HAVE   ALWAYS    REGARDED   THESE   OLD    BOOTS    WITH   A 
FEELING   AKIN    TO    AWE." 

come  walking  briskly  up.  I  knew  them,  knew 
them  well,  for  I  had  often  tried  to  induce 
their  owner  to  part  with  them.  They  belong 
ed  to  a  studio  in  the  Sherwood  Building. 
As  the*  new-comers  came  in  sight,  my  boots 
looked  mad.  One  would  think  it  impossible 


SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE.  213 

for  a  pair  of  boots  to  show  anger,  but  the 
manner  in  which  my  old  Continentals  set 
themselves  squarely  upon  the  ground,  the 
bluntly  pointed  toes  turned  out  in  a  dignified 
yet  defiant  manner,  was  very  expressive,  and 
as  unmistakable  as  a  clenched  fist  or  a  cor 
rugated  brow. 

A  moment's  hesitation,  and  the  little  red 
shoes  ran  ahead  to  meet  the  Wellingtons, 
and  there  they  stood,  side  by  side,  the  new 
comers  a  great  deal  closer  to  the  dainty  silk 
en  toes  than  my  poor  boots  had  dared  to 
come.  Intuitively  I  began  to  take  sides 
with  my  property;  my  sympathies  were  all 
with  the  Continentals,  and  I  was  aware  of  an 
undignified  prejudice  and  jealousy  toward 
an  old  pair  of  Wellington  boots. 

As  the  pedestrians  started  on  their  walk 
again,  the  feminine  shoes  guarded  by  the 
Continentals  and  Wellingtons  on  either  side, 
I  followed,  fully  determined  to  pursue  the 
adventure  to  an  end. 

The  foot-path  that  we  traveled  was  strewn 
with  dead  leaves  and  edged  with  grass.  No 
thought  of  where  we  were  disturbed  me,  but 
I  was  impressed  with  the  feeling  that  the 
Wellington  boots  were  trying  to  monopolize 
the  attention  of  the  red  shoes,  and  either  ig- 


214  SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE. 

noring  my  Continentals  entirely,  or  acknowl 
edging"  their  presence  only  by  slighting  or 
flippant  remarks;  and  my  surmises  were  in  a 
measure  confirmed  by  the  occasional  grind 
ing  twist  of  a  Continental  heel  into  the 
frozen  sod. 

Presently  we  turned  into  a  well-traveled 
road,  where  there  seemed  to  be  many  feet, 


"IT    WAS    PROBABLY    A    PERCEPTION    OF   THIS    THAT   MADE   THE 
BOOTS    SO    SELF-CONSCIOUS." 

all  walking  in  the  same  direction.  Their  des 
tination  proved  to  be  a  building,  which  we 
entered  after  ascending  some  wooden  steps. 
A  musty  odor,  peculiar  to  hymn-books  and 
woodwork  which  only  receive  an  airing 
once  a  week,  proclaimed  the  building  to  be 
a  church. 

If  it  was  cold  inside  the  edifice  I  was  not 


SIX  FEE 7"  OF  ROMANCE.  2  I  5 

reminded  of  it  until  the  little  red-mittened 
hand  placed  the  old  foot-stove  near  by,  and 
the  same  fascinating  red-clothed  feet  hopped 
upon  it.  Close  upon  one  side  were  my  old 
Continental  boots,  and  upon  the  other  side 
the  Wellingtons. 

It  was  with  ill-concealed  impatience  that 
I  watched  the  egotistical  wrinkles  assumed 
by  the  impertinent,  uptown  studio  boots, 
and  I  felt  my  blood  tingle  with  anger  when 
they  rested  their  varnished  and  polished  toes 
against  my  old  foot-stove,  upon  the  top  of 
which  the  little  red  shoes  were  perched. 

For  a  time  all  three  pairs  of  foot-gear 
maintained  a  deportment  sufficiently  discreet 
for  church  manners,  but  the  way  the  Conti 
nentals  finally  kicked  over  a  wooden  foot 
stool  satisfied  me  that  they  at  least  were  not 
in  a  receptive  mood  for  the  sermon. 

Although  conscious,  in  a  general  way,  of 
my  surroundings,  my  senses  of  hearing  and 
of  sight  were  focused  upon  the  three  pairs  of 
feet,  and  what  did  not  immediately  affect 
them  made  no  impression  upon  me. 

I  suppose  the  benediction  was  said,  but  I 
heard  neither  sermon,  hymn,  nor  benedic 
tion,  and  only  judged  the  services  had  ended 
by  the  movement  of  the  feet. 


2l6 


SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE. 


When  the  dainty,  high-heeled  shoes  had 
descended  from  their  perch  upon  the  foot- 
warmer,  two  hands  reached  down  simulta 
neously,  as  if  to  take  the  stove.  One  was 


"TWO    HANDS    REACHED    DOWN    SIMULTANEOUSLY   AS    IF   TO 
TAKE    THE   STOVE." 

broad,  muscular  and  sunburned;  the  other 
was  gloved,  but  showed  an  aristocratic  nar 
rowness  and  length  of  fingers,  and,  notwith 
standing  the  rich  lace  frill  which  fell  partly 


SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE.  2  I  J 

over  it  from  the  wrist,  there  was  nothing 
weak  or  effeminate  in  its  appearance. 

While  I  could  not  help  admiring  the  refine 
ment  and  genteel  proportions  of  the  gloved 
hand,  I  disliked  it  all  the  more  for  its  good 
points.  There  was  a  momentary  struggle 
between  those  two  hands  for  the  possession 
of  my  foot-stove,  but  it  was  soon  evident 
that  the  brown  fingers  had  been  too  quick 
for  their  rivals,  and  the  latter  retired,  only  to 
immediately  reappear  with  a  small  visiting 
card  between  the  index  and  the  second 
fingers. 

Once  again  we  were  walking  over  the 
frozen  ground  of  the  country  road,  retracing 
our  steps,  and  we  had  proceeded  quite  a  dis 
tance,  when  my  strange  guides  stopped  for 
a  moment,  and  then  departed.  The  red 
shoes  tripped  lightly  away  until  they  passed 
the  base  of  two  large  stone  posts,  but  walked 
more  slowly  as  they  continued  up  a  well- 
kept  path. 

To  my  surprise,  the  boots  did  not  offer  to 
follow,  but  both  pairs  strode  briskly  together 
off  in  an  opposite  direction. 

Here  was  a  dilemma  I  had  not  anticipated. 
I  was  morally  certain  the  red  shoes  had  car 
ried  off  my  foot-stove,  but  when  I  thought 


218 


SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE. 


of  my  Continentals  disappearing-  in  company 
with  those  Wellingtons  I  decided  to  follow 
the  boots,  consoling  myself  writh  the  thought 
that  the  stove  was  probably  safe,  and  that,  in 
the  ordinary  and  natural  course  of  events, 
the  boots  would  be  sure  to  find  the  silken 
shoes  again,  and  I  my  foot-warmer. 

We  left  the  road,  and  walked   Indian  file 
through  underbrush  and  briers  to  what  ap- 


"ONLY   TO    IMMEDIATELY    REAPPEAR    WITH    A    SMALL   VISITING  CARD 
BETWEEN   THE   INDEX   AND    SECOND    FINGERS." 

peared  to  be  a  clearing  in  the  woods.  I  was 
glad  to  be  out  of  the  brambles;  for,  knowing 
the  fragile  condition  of  my  old  boots,  I 
greatly  feared  there  would  be  nothing  left 
of  the  top  leather,  and  so  interested  was  I 
in  looking  them  over  to  count  the  damage, 
that  I  at  first  failed  to  notice  their  odd  pose. 
With  toes  pointing  at  right  angles  from  each 
other,  the  boots  stood  planted  wide  apart, 


SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE.  2IQ 

with  a  peculiar,  and  I  thought  somewhat 
dangerous,  look,  if  such  a  term  maybe  used, 
when  my  attention  was  attracted  by  a  clink 
and  ring  of  metal,  and,  raising  my  eyes,  I 
saw  two  gleaming  steel  blades  —  two  long, 
bright  swords  fencing  in  midair,  lunging  and 
parrying  away  in  fine  style. 

My  heart  fairly  stood  still  with  excitement. 
I  dreaded  lest  some  lunge  or  stab  might  bring 
a  pale,  intense  face  within  the  circle  of  my 
vision. 

It  was  skillful  and  brave  work.  That  broad, 
brown  hand  was  as  firm  as  iron,  yet  as  sup 
ple  in  the  wrist  as  a  steel  spring;  and  its  long, 
thin,  white -lace -edged  antagonist  was  as 
quick  and  vicious  as  a  cat's  paw. 

For  an  instant  the  only  movement  of  the 
crossed  swords  was  a  nervous  tremor,  then, 
like  a  flash,  came  a  quick  stroke  and  a  twist. 
Up  went  one  sword  with  a  ringing  sound, 
glinting  into  the  air. 

Bravo  !  I  was  about  to  cry,  when  I  was 
hushed  by  the  appearance  of  that  same  soft, 
feminine,  lace-mittened  hand,  much  whiter 
now  than  before.  It  grasped  the  victorious 
blade  and  closed  the  pretty  fingers  tightly 
over  the  wicked,  shining  steel,  while  its  trem 
bling  mate  rested  upon  the  big,  broad,  brown 


22O  SIX  FEE T  OF  ROMANCE. 

hand  that  still  held  the  sword  on  guard. 
There  was  a  moment's  pause;  then  the  sword 
dropped,  and  two  brown,  sinewy  hands 
grasped  the  little,  mittened  fingers  in  a  rap 
turous,  uncontrollable  sort  of  way,  which  not 
only  plainly  said  that  they  cared  not  to  press 
their  vantage  with  the  sword,  but  that  they 
would  brave  anything  for  the  sake  of  hold 
ing  those  little  lace-mittened  fingers. 

To  make  sure  to  whom  the  brown  hands 
belonged,  I  cast  down  my  eyes,  and  saw,  as 
I  felt  1  would,  my  old  Continental  boots. 
They  were  now  no  longer  awkward,  but  with 
a  sturdy,  manly,  happy  stride,  they  walked 
alongside  the  red,  silken,  high-heeled,  buck 
led  shoes,  and  while  these  looked  just  as 
pretty,  just  as  dainty  and  just  as  piquant  as 
ever,  they  had  not  now  any  suggestion  of 
coquetry  about  them. 

As  they  moved  off  I  followed,  until  we 
came  suddenly  upon  my  old  foot -stove, 
where  it  had  been  hastily  dropped  by  the 
side  of  the  path.  While  I  looked  at  it,  the 
boots  and  shoes  passed  on.  I  noticed  that  the 
stove  -  door  was  open,  and  all  looked  dark 
within. 

The  haze  around  the  old  foot  -  warmer 
gradually  melted  away,  and  I  saw  reflections 


SIX  FEET  OF  ROMANCE. 


221 


of  the  lights  from  the  streets  dancing  upon 
the  walls  of  my  studio,  and  in  the  dusky 
shadows  I  could  trace  what  appeared  to  be 
my  old  Continental  boots  hanging  alongside 
the  buckskin  trousers. 

I  jumped  from  my  seat,  lighted  a  match, 
and  examined  the  old  foot-stove.  The  cin 
ders  were  still  in  the  metal  cup.  I  moisten 
ed  my  finger  with  my  tongue,  touched  the 
cinders,  but  they  were  cold! 


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(SOLD   BY    SUBSCRIPTION    ONLY.) 

The  Library  of  American  Literature.  1607-1891.  Compiled  and 
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work. 

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YC  C8083 


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